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Archiver > BRETHREN > 2005-08 > 1124741694
From: Richard Folkerth <>
Subject: Re: [BRE] was David Brower ... now 'Palestine church'
Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 13:14:54 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: <212.75a2825.303a8ead@aol.com>
--- wrote:
> Afternoon List,
> I am back to working on the Gospel Messenger. In the July 3,
> 1883 issue
> on page 8 I have the following item that I would like to see if
> someone knows
> what churches they may have been referring to.
--- snip ---
11. "From Edna Mills, Ind. ... Attended a Love-feast in the Palestine
church, Darke Co., Ohio, June 12. ... J.W. Metzger"
WAYNE
I have ancestors who lived in the vicinity of Palestine so I have a
few sources lying about that shed some light on the Palestine church.
First some geography; Palestine is located in Liberty Township, which
was known as German Township before WW I. This Township is SW of
Greenville, the Darke County seat and borders Indiana to the west.
The E-W road thru the center of Palestine is today known as US Route
36 and the N-S road thru town is known as the Palestine-Richmond Road
to the south and the Palestine-Union City Road to the north.
Plat maps of German Township show the church. In 1875 it is shown on
the map as Ger Bap or Dunkard Ch on 4 acres, located on the East
side of the Palestine-Richmond Road about 7/10ths of a mile south
of the center of Palestine. Nearby landowners are Jesse Woods, Heirs
of Lewis Aukerman, John Ketring, Jr, and Jonathan Teaford. Another
church, St. Johns, is shown about 1/3 mile south of the German
Baptist church on the west side of this same road.
For the surveyors the German Baptist church is located in the NW
corner of the SW quarter of Section 23 in Township 11 North, Range 1
East.
The 1888 plat map shows the church as the Ger Bapt Ch, with the
same nearby landowners, except that the Teaford farm is now listed as
B. J. and E. Teaford. The other church to the south is listed as
Ger Ref Ch.
The German Baptist church is not shown at this location on either the
1910 or 1925 plat maps and I could not see the church anywhere near
Palestine on these maps. The German Reformed church appears on both
maps.
Neither church is shown on the 1857 plat map. My copy of the 1857
map is not very good, so I cannot tell if the land later occupied by
the German Baptist church was part of the land owned in 1857 by Lewis
Aukerman or the land owned by John Ketring/Kettering. But no matter
who owned this land, it is clear that the land later occupied by the
German Reformed Church belonged in 1857 to John Ketring/Kettering.
Beers History of Darke County, Ohio, 1880, contains a section on
churches and ministers of German Township, starting on p 447, and
says, in part David Miller, son of old Jacob Miller, first minister
of the Miami Valley, and Benjamin Bowman, came over from Indiana at
an early day, and spoke to the people of things eternal and
spiritual. They were ministers of the German Baptist Church. No
dates are given in connection with this passage, but the context of
the remainder of this paragraph seems to imply the 1820s or 1830s.
Then on p 448 is found The German Baptist Church was constituted an
organization at an early day by David Miller and Benjamin J. Bowman.
John Weaver was the first preacher to serve the new society. He was
succeeded by John Crumrine. Since then, William Marius, Mr. Harter
and Jacob Miller have had charge of the congregation. Meetings were
held in barns and houses until1868, when their fine building was
erected, just south of Palestine. The membership is about one
hundred and seventy-five persons.
I note that the church is never given a name on the plat maps or in
Beers. Perhaps it really was called the Palestine Church
DICK FOLKERTH
Dallas, Texas
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