Huntington County Indiana The Start of the First Christian Church of Warren ______ FIRST TWO YEARS WERE DISCOURAGING; THEN CAME THE GREAT REVIVAL OF 1873-74 WHEN ONE HUNDRED MEMBERS WERE ADDED It was in the fall of 1871 that David Fowler and George Abbot, two elders of the Christian Church, and members of the Eel River Christian Conference , came to Warren to hold a series of evangelistic meetings, the purpose of which was to organize a church of that denomination here. I do not know whether they came of their own initiative or were invited by some local persons who desired to have a Christian Church in this community. My opinion of th matter is that Franklin Shaffer and perhaps Daniel Mossburg, Sr., had encouraged the men to come. The meetings were held in an unused church building that stood near the present site of the Farmers Exchange Elevator and was on the lot now occupied by the home of Mrs. Flora Keller. Mor many years I have tried to find out something about the origin of that old church building bu have never been able to learn when it was built or how long it was used by the Universalist congregation which had it built. Nor have I ever been able to learn the names of more than one or two of the members of the congregation. All that I know is that by 1871 the building and ground had passed to the ownership of John V. Morgan of Huntington. Arrangements were made with Mr. Morgan fo the use of his building and the meetings began in October ,1871. On Sunday, the twenty-second of that month, an old record states that after divine service eight persons met an organized the First Christian Church of Warren, Indiana. These eight persons were Franklin Schaffer, John M. Shaw and his wife, Jane Shaw, Daniel Mossburg, Sr., and his wife, Elizabeth Mossburg, John Newman ahd nis wife, Lydia Newman, and Mrs. Roxaline Hultz. At that same meeting Franklin Shaffer was elected church clerk and John M. Shaw and Daniel Mossburh, Sr., were elected deacons. The deacons were consecreted with prayer and the laying on of hands. During the remainder of the Conference year which ended in August of the year of 1872, eight other persons were added to the membership among these were Susan Shaffer, James Hildebrand and wife, Peter Hosterman and wife and Mrs. Mary Ervin. During the next year, August, 1872, to August, 1872 there were but six additions to the membership and the prospects for the continuation of the church were not bright; but a Sunday school was organized in October of 1873 with C.C. Morris superintendent, and James M. Hildebrand, secretary, and James Andrew, treasurer. In December, 1873, a revival meeting was started, and this revival proved to be the greatest ever held by the Christian Church and one of the greatest ever held in the town. In continued through the months of December, 1873, January and February of 1874, and resulted in the addition of one hundred new names to the list of members among these the most prominent were Silas Jones and wife, Samuel L. Good an wife, E.R. Smethurst and wife, Elisha Christman and wife, Henry Mallow and wife, George H. Thompson and wife, Robert Sprowl and wife, Madison McIlwaine and wife. Three young ladies and one young man who joined the church during that revival have continued in fellowship during the sixty years that have elapsed since it began. Harried Penfold (Mrs. Hattie Ewart), Sarah J. Sprowl (Mrs. Jennie Huff), J.O. Christman, Linnie Smith (Mrs. Linnie Jones). Mrs. Ewart united with the church on December 27, 1873, Mrs Huff December 30, 1873, J.O. Christman, January 15, 1874, Mrs Jones, February 17, 1874. Soon after the revival meeting closed the congregation began considering a permanent home. D.W. Fowler and Silas Jones were appointed to select a site for the church; the committee reported a few weeks later a desirable lot but nothing was done. As far as the records show the only improvement made was to whitewash the church. It was not until three years later that the matter of providing a permanent home was taken up in earnest. The conference year, 1874 -1875, seems to have been barren of results as far as increase in membership was concerned - but in 1875-76 the revival added a number of names and at the close of that conference year the total stood at 160. Although the old record written by Franklin Shaffer makes no mention of any trouble it is clear that all was not well amont the brethren for in September the financial committee made a report in which it was stated that the committee was unable to raise enough money to hire Elder Fowler for another year and for several months the pulpit was vacant. Fowler had served five years. In December, 1876, David Hidy was employed as pastor and immediately began a revival meeting which proved to be quite a success and about fifty new members were added in Devember, 1876, January and February, 1877. Among present members who joined that year were Mrs. Belle Jones, Josie Mouen (Mrs. M.M. Tam) and Mrs. Delilah McCord. In March, 1877, the matter of a permanent church home was taken up in earnest. S.L. Tood was made chairman of the finance committee and Silas Jones headded a building committee. Efforts were made to buy the building in which the church was then holding its meetings but nothing came of the efforts and it was decided to build a new church. William McCoy, who had united with the church during the preceding winter, owned a log, No. 37, in the Original Plat of the Town of Warren and he offered this lot as his contribution to a new church. The offer was accepted and solicitors started raising funds. It was not long until two thousand dollars were reported, then in a couple of weeks the Start Page Four funds grew to twenty-seven hundred dollars. Plans were then made for a truck church 38x62 with basement, gallery and vestibule. The basement and gallery were afterwards left out of the plans and a slate roof was substituted. Work was begun on the new building in the spring of 1877. The committee in charge used the money of the subscribers as it was paid in an when the money run out operations were stopped; the committee found it easier to get the names on the paper than it was to get the money into the church treasury. The work proceeded at intervals throughout the summers of 1877 and 1878. In the latter part of April, 1879, it was reported that the church was practically completed and that all bills were paid with the exception of a s..... tween three dollars an.... dollars. The committe.... ordered to proceed to ra...... deficit and in May Elder .... Hidy and Elisha Christma.. appointed to arrange the.... for thet dedication whic..... set for the fifth Sund... June, 1879. The old .... which has been the .... from which this infor... has been gleaned is entir.... lent about the dedicatory.... ices. That church was..... from 1879 till 1902 w.... was torn down to make w... the present structure. The First Christian C.... of Warren was admit... membership in the Eel.... Conference on August 21.. at a session held at Six ... Wells county. The first.. gates from the church t.... ference were Franklin S.... John M. Shaw and .... Mossburg. The first complete org... tion of the church was ... spring of 1874 when Fr... Schaffer was elected cler... first deacon and Sam.... Good second deacon. The.. tees elected at that time.. Silas Jones, Samuel L... and Robert Sprowl. ...... Lines was appointed sex... receive a salary of two .... a monthe to keep the ...... cleaned, lighted and heat... The pastors of the .... from its beginning were... ler, 1871 to 1876; David.. ....... _____________________ --------------------------------------------------------------------- USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. --------------------------------------------------------------------- File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Jere Osburn (© 2000 Jere Osburn) Oklahoma City This is a story clipped from The Warren Tribune. Unfortunately, the clipper did not include the date of publication and was a bit careless on the page four portion. That accounts for the dots which I used to indicated missing portions. Beyond that, quite a few names of Old Warren are included in the article. Linnie (Belinda) Smith Jones was my great-grandmother.