Centennial of June 1, 1969..... By Daryl GARDNER

The first "Christian Church" I can find any record of was built in 1820 by Barton W. Stone at Lexington KY. Some claim this church was built in 1812.

There followed new churches in the Carolinas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio.

As the pioneers moved west, they brought the Christian Church with them. They were called CHRISTIAN CHURCH, CHURCH OF CHRIST, DISCIPLES OF CHRIST.

Most of our early settlers came from Ohio, Pennslvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, you can understand how the Christian Church came to Wayne Co. IA.

H.B. DUNCAN, is thought to be the first settler in Wayne Co. He came from Kentucky and it took him two months to arrive at what is now Lineville, IA on November 13, 1841.

He thought he was in Missouri and held public office and paid taxes in Missouri. He served in the Missouri state Legislature in 1848. He was also elected to serve in the Iowa Legislature in 1852 - and he lived in the same house.

The north three rows of townships in Wayne county were surveyed in 1847 and the bottom row the next year. One of our local earliest settlers was Marshall W. RICHMAN who lived about three and half miles northwest of what is now Humeston and farmed and ran a stagecoach stop. Richman township was named after him and he helped to survey the townships of Wayne Co. and continued as Co Surveyor for several years.

It was always thought that the first CHRISTIAN CHURCH of which we are a part was established at Lewisurg in July 25, 1868. Some of the earliest settlers there were Jas. GUINN, J.H.SURBAUGH, Levi and Nicholas CALDWELL.

This church soon became known as the South Branch as a church was organized at what we now know as Green Bay and was known as the North Branch. But some evidence was found that this may have been turned around with Green Bay area church being organized first and Lewisburg next.

Because on Oct. 21, 1858 a Mr. Wagner FISHER deeded an acre of land to Stephen HESTON,Bert FISHER, and Isaac M. CHADWICK, Trustees of the CHURCH OF GOD AND JESUS CHRIST.

On Mar 6, 1873 the Richman Township school board, consisting of M.H. RICHMAN, L.S. CLOTHIER, Peter PALMER and H.R. SAVELY, deeded to the Christian Church a plot of ground of about one acre to be used as a burial place which is now part of Green Bay Cemetery.

The church officers in this transaction were W. MCKINLEY, A. HUESTON and M. SANDERS. This is the only record I have found of Mr. Sanders being a member of our church. So it is possible that our Christian Church was operating in Green Bay area prior to 1855 when they purchased the land from Mr. FISHER and we are at least 15 years late with our anniversary.

Three early famlies that had a lot to do with the organization of he Humeston Christian Church were the families of Richard CARTER, Willoughby MCKINLEY and Alva HUMESTON, SR.

The Richard Carter family were active in the Green Bay Church and the MCKINLEY AND HUMESTON, SR. Alva HUMESTON's father's families attended church there.

The WILLOUGHBY MCKINLEY family located in Section 21. He filed his deed on Feb. 18, 1859. He bought this land from Rev. Robt. MCCUNE, his pastor in Ohio, who in turn had purchased the land from the Mexican War veteran who had been grated a patent by the U.S. Government.

The peculiar part of this transaction was the fact that the minister did not file his deed until 1860 a year after Mr. McKinley had filed, and his deed called for the land to be in Section 20 and Mr. McKinley had filled in Section 21. I am told that this was common in early days and was settled by agreement of the parties concerned or by the courts.

FIRST CHURCH
Our first church here was a building moved here either from Lewisburg or Green Bay - which place we do not know. The building was placed at the back of the new church and held the baptistry and the west end was a Sunday school classroom and a place for the choir to leave their wraps.

It was a hard struggle to raise enough money to build but a gift of $400, a sizeable sum in those days, was given by Willoughby MCKINLEY and the building became a reality.

CHARTER MEMBERS
A. Humeston,Sr., Willoughby McKinley, H. R. Savely, John Fisher, Richard Carter, F.R. Stone, S.P. Newcomb, Jas. H. Hatfield, H.B. Bonner, R.A. McKinley, Mary Humeston, Elizabeth McKinley, Nancy Savely, Lucinda Carter, Lucy Carter, Catherine Stone, Elizabeth Carter, Matilda Hatfield, and Mary Bonner.

Ten men and 9 women. I think this is probably the only time our membership has contained more men than women.

The first officers of our church were: Elders - A. Humeston, Sr. and S.P. Newcomb; Deacons - H.R. Savely and J.H. Hatfield; Clerk - L.R. Stone; Treasurer - J.R. Cassity, (Mr. Cassity was not listed as a charter member so must have come in later but before the officers were chosen.)

The pastor was J.C. Porter who served for about ten years. The Church grew as the town became larger. The towns maximum population was about 1,200 and the church's maximum membership as about 160.

I can find no records prior to 1897. Music played a large part in our services.

Loudene Humeston (Mrs. Clarence) joined our church by baptism in 1898. Later she organized our first Primary Department. She received no help from the adult Sunday School or Church until 1940. It is people like Mrs. Humeston who have kept our church alive over the years.

There appeared in the minutes some talk of a new church as far back as 1903. In 1903 our church built a tabernacle just west of the church and held a revival meeting. Rev. Cornell was the pastor for the second time. I know of two people who joined our church in 1903 and possibly at this revival. They were Clara Garton and Ralph Gardner.

Rev. J.A. Snodgrass came to our Church from Delta, IA on April 25, 1909. Talk of a new building was revived. In 1910 a contract was let to Andrew Stephens to build a new church for $7,364 plus $550 for extras. The new church was completed and dedicated in 1912. The church received recognition throughout the state and many churches sent committees to look it over.

I find that in 1928 it was reported to the board that the stain glass windows were in need of repair, but this was not done until Willard Eaton repaired them in 1962. In 1947 there were some repairs made in the sanctuary.

In June, 1948, Rev. W.W. McReynolds was called to be pastor of our church on or about Sept. 1.

On May 15, 1949, a building committee was appointed to present plans to the board to build a parsonage, and on June 24, 1949 the building committee reported a plan calling for a 6 room house, full bath upstairs, half bath and study downstairs and a full basement for $10,000.

The parsonage was built for $9,999.99 and was dedicated on Nov. 27, 1949.

Another highlight of the McReynolds pastorate was the purchase of our electric organ by the Crusaders Class. This organ was dedicated Oct. 10, 1952. The money for the organ was raised by selling popcorn in the park, on the streets of Humeston, at farm sales, dog trials and any place they thought would pay. (Check out the link to "Ye Olde Popcorn Stand")

The farmers of our church organized themselves in what they called "The Farm Group" and in about 1950 they rented land and had a farming program called God's Acres. They did this for several years and then purchased 40 acres of land 1 and half miles west and half a mile south of Humeston.. This program has been a great help in church finances.

The Church grew and prospered for several years and then gradually became complacent until in 1960 Herman Joy and Keith Richard decided we needed a new heating system. This was the beginning of a large repair and remodeling program. The accomplishments were made with the cooperation of the entire congregation.

At the time of this writing the pastor was John Patterson and was here almost five years.

I close the history of our church by saying "Thank You, God, for all Thy help"

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