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Archiver > BRETHREN > 2010-02 > 1265979321


From: Merle C Rummel <>
Subject: Re: [BRE] Beaver Dam Church
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:55:21 -0500
References: <4B74608F.2060105@frontiernet.net><e3afe72a1002111848j22b9f07asb5e2b387e1e7d6a5@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <e3afe72a1002111848j22b9f07asb5e2b387e1e7d6a5@mail.gmail.com>


> The Beaver Dam congregation met in Martin Garver's home in Frederick Co MD.
> Martin Gaver built his home with the movable divider partition, as did other
> early congregations.
>

I pastored the Beaver Dam Church, New Side (Church of the Brethren),
back in the earliest '60s - at that time the Martin Garver house was
vacant, and I was in it several times (the old barn west across the road
was where Annual Meeting once met - ?1778?). The road back to the
Beaver Dam Churches went past the barn. The churches are maybe a half
mile west. Several local Garver families were members of my church.

The downstairs of the old two story brick house could be an open meeting
room, It was normally divided into three rooms. The walls dividing the
rooms had huge hinges at the ceiling, and were to be swung up for
meetings. I saw nothing that would indicate dividing walls within the
rooms, such as would separate men and women.

I did not locate the sites for the earlier John Garber and Jacob Saylor
houses, which were built on this same pattern. Whether the Martin
Garber house was a successor of the John Garber house, I do not know
These houses were used from the early days of the Beaver Dam
congregation, which started with Jacob Danner to Israel Creek, in
1762. Daniel Sailor came in 1772. The first log church building was
built about 1790 (per J Maurice Henry, and others). It was likely on
the same site as the present Old Side (German Baptist) church building
(the 3rd building that site). The second building (1828) was stone, as
is the present Old Side building (painted white). I do not remember any
dividing walls in the Old Side Church. (I did attend there on the
several winter Sundays, when services were canceled for my church
because of snow - Yes! Canceled for SNOW! - '60 and '61.)

More recently I drove through the area, and the Martin Garver house had
been renovated. I have no idea what was done to it.

The history here indicates that Beaver Dam was a trigger in the 1881
division of the Old Order (Old German Baptists) and Church of the
Brethren (German Baptist - name now dropped). The Old German Baptists
locked the Church of the Brethren families from the church - and the
Church of the Brethren first met in the Good Intent School house (brick,
up on the hill nearby). They compromised, and the New Side church was
built The New Side church was north of the Old Side building, across
the cemetery. (and how I wish that I had written down the information in
the cemetery -as I did look at the stones and read the names).

Merle C Rummel

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