Washington County, MO - Caledonia Methodist Church

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Caledonia Methodist Church 1810-1967 by Muriel Akers

p 11
From the "History of Southeast Missouri" by R. S. Douglas, page 64, this 
quote is recorded: "Perhaps the first settlement of persons intending to make 
this part of the country their home and engage in agriculture was made near 
the present town of Caledonia in 1798. In that year, Ananias McCoy, Benjamin 
Crow and also Robert Reed, came from tennessee and settled in Bellevue 
Valley, about 12 miles south of Potosi. Others followed and the settlement 
porspered. These men were farmers and the products of the soil were carried 
to Ste. Genevieve on horseback and on foot. They soon built mills in Bellevue 
Valley and became unusually prosperous. They enjoyed a fertile soil, plenty 
of water power and nearness to mines." 
From the “American State Papers,” Moses Austin’s Report of the Lead Mines, 
Volume I, page 188, February 3, 1904 [sic 1804?], this quote is given 
“Bellevue Valley, ten miles from Potosi, ahs 20 families, all American, no 
French. The families who were already here before 1806 or came soon after 
from Tennessee were Ananias McCoy, The Reeds, the Crows, the McLaughlins, 
Ashbrooks, McMurterys, Goforths, Woods, Greggs, and perhaps a number of 
others. It was mainly from this group that the Methodist Church came into 
being.”

P 12 Murphy, William
With her family, a grandson, a hired lad, and a negor woman, they cast their 
fortune upon the Holston River, floated down the Ohio, to the Mississippi and 
hence to Ste. Genevieve, arrinving June 12, 1802. From there she proceeded to 
Farmington, where she organized the first Sunday School west of the 
Mississippi  in 1805. Joseph Oglesby assisted her in riding about the 
community to get people in the Sunday School. 

P 13
"He rode west from Green County, Tennessee, in 1806, accompanied by two 
slaves to the lead mining region of Upper Louisiana. He worked for two years 
for McIllvaine of Mine la Breton. Evidently he was one of the few whose 
interest was first attracted to mining instead of farming. But, his interest, 
after two years’ work for McIllvaine, turned to farming along with the others 
who migrated from Green County, Tennessee. He came from Mine La Breton to 
Vellevue Valley in 1808 and bought  a part of the Miles 
Goforth Grant lying southwest of Caledonia. 

It is known that the John Lewis home was located about the place where the 
Belleview, Missouri Postoffice now stands. Commissioners for this road were 
John Lewis, Robert Reed and William Hughes. William Stevenson did survey the 
road. Later, Stevenson was made a member of the Court of Common Pleas. This 
is the same William Stevenson who became very active as a minister in the 
Methodist Church (served as pastor of Bellevue, Caledonia Church), later 
going into the Conferences that included Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, and 
Arkansas. Although William Stevenson was defeated by Stephen F. Austin 
(Missouri Gazette, August 19, 1815) for Representative to the General 
Assembly of this Territory in Washington County, the two later renewed 
friendship in Hempstead County, Mound Prairie, Arkansas, where Stevenson 
organized the first church in Arkansas.
Caledonia Methodist Church 1810-1967 p 14

Caledonia Methodist Church 1810-1967 p 13
P 16
William Reed had a brother, Joseph...the land on which Shiloh Meeting House, 
with other affiliated buidings, were deeded as a gift or a payment in 
exchange for considerations to his brother, Joseph Reed.

A letter from Rev. Salmon Giddings, who organized the Presbyterian Church 
August 3, 1816…

" Caledonia Methodist Church 1810-1967 p 18