BIO: William S. Wentz, Wyoming Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church, PA & NY

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by 
Judy Banja & Denise Phillips

Copyright 2007.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
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Chaffee, Amasa Franklin. History of the Wyoming 
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
New York: Eaton & Mains, 1904, pages 257-258.
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  WENTZ, WILLIAM SOLON, was born in Binghamton, N.Y., January 28, 1826, 
and died in Owego, N.Y., April 20, 1881.
  He spent childhood and youth i the vicinity of Binghamton, and when 
old enough became an employee of the Erie Railroad, and continued 
railroad work until he entered the ministry.
  After conversion he received a call to the sacred work of the 
ministry, and was given a local preacher's license.  Health 
considerations prompted him to seek a more helpful climate.  He, 
accordingly, joined the Missouri Conference in 1856, where he served 
the following charges:  Shelbyville, Macon City, Independence, Kansas 
City, Atchinson, Hannibal, Brunswick, Brookfield  In 1863 he became 
presiding elder of St. Joseph District, and in 1864 he was appointed to 
the Little Rock District.
  During the early part of his ministry the country was severely 
agitated by the discussion of slavery, and when Missouri threatened to 
secede the excitement became intense.  He draped his pulpit with the 
American flag and championed the cause of the Union, at the peril of 
his life, as it was often threatened.  His love for the Union was known 
wherever he went, and evoked the hatred and cruel conspiracies of 
Southern sympathizers.  At one time, while he was serving Little Rock 
District, five Union men were hung in his front dooryard, within the 
view of his family, and his wife was notified that they were in search 
of her husband.
  In 1868 he was a member of the Electoral College from Missouri, which 
cast its vote for Grant and Colfax.
  In 1869 he transferred to East Genesee Conference and was appointed 
to North Hector, and in 1870-71 he served Troy.  In 1872, by charge of 
Conference boundaries, he became a member of Central New York 
Conference, where he served Mecklenburg three years.  In 1875 he was 
transferred to Wyoming Conference, and served the following charges:  
1875-76, Ashley; 1877-78, Newark Valley; 1879-80, Susquehanna.  In 1881 
he was appointed to Susquehanna for a third year.  He was not 
permitted, however, to enter the work.  On his way home from Waverly, 
the seat of Conference, he stopped at Owego to visit a sister living in 
that place.  In a few days pneumonia had done its work, his spirit had 
returned to its Maker.  His body was buried in Rochester, N.Y., and 
when his wife died in 1893, she was laid by his side.