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EBENEZER METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF WEST TAGHKANIC COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK By Capt. Franklin Ellis 226 1878
As a result of an irregular series of meetings held by ministers
from other places, a Methodist class was formed at West Taghkanic (then
called Lapham's) by Rev. Lewis McK. Pease in the
summer of 1842. The class was composed of fifteen members: Ira
Williams, Clarissa Williams, Henry Sheldon, Catharine E. Sheldon, Robert A. Roraback, Jane Roraback, Fite Rockefeller, Solomon Avery, Esther Rockefeller,
Polly Allen, Leonard Ham, Eleanor Ham, Heena
Sheldon, John K. Smith, and Sylvia Smith. Ira Williams was the first
class-leader, and Henry Sheldon, Robert A. Roraback,
and Fite Rockefeller were the first stewards.
The society held their meeting for a while in the school-house,
and in the spring of 1843 took steps to build a church. Mrs. Julia C.
Livingston having donated a pleasant site on the high ground east of the
creek, a frame church forty by fifty feet in size was erected thereon, at a
cost of about $1500. The sermon at the dedication of this building was
delivered by Rev. John Crawford, of Hudson. This building was used for
a period of twenty years, and was then (in 1863)
sold to Stephen H. Platner for $150, and he removed
it to the village of Blue Store in the town of Livingston. Work on the
second and present church was immediately begun, and, under the charge of
Robert L. Burdick, of Hillsdale, was pressed rapidly to completion. The
building is forty by sixty feet, will seat from four to five hundred people,
cost about $6500, and was dedicated by Revs. Fox and J. K. Wardle in the fall
of 1863. It is a pleasant little church, and
is picturesquely perched upon the side of a hill overlooking the village. The parsonage was built in 1843, on a
portion of the land procured of Mrs. Livingston. The church property is now valued at
about $9000. The present officers of the church are Robert A. Roraback, Solomon Avery, Ira Williams, Leonard Ham, Sr.,
A. Marshall Myers, Norman Niver, Henry E. Best, Cornelius Ham, John Proper,
stewards; Robert A. Roraback, Robert Bush, William
Sheldon, Ira Williams, Leonard Ham, A. Marshall Myers, Samuel L. Myers,
Solomon Avery, Elias Smith, trustees; George E. Best, class-leader. The
pastors in the order of their service have been as follows, viz.: Revs.
Lewis McKendree Pease, John Campbell, Lorin Clark,
Jeremiah Ham, Samuel M. Knapp, Thomas Jerrolds,
Aaron Hunt, Jr., Harrison C. Humphrey, Ira Ferris, Thomas Ellis, Joseph
Elliott, Aaron Coons, John J. Graw, Thomas Ellis, Henry H. Birkins, Abram Davis, Aaron Coons, J. Chester Hoyt,
Robert Hunt, William Hall, R. H. Travis, and William M. Chipp,
the present pastor, who began his term of service here in the spring of
1878. Among the early preachers in this vicinity were Revs. Delos Lull,-----Crispell, Van Wagoner, and Holmes. In 1870, Mr. Isaac Shaurman, one of the members living at Glenco Mills, in
Livingston, was impressed with the necessity of providing some means of moral
and religious training for the children of his neighborhood, who were in the
habit of spending the hours of the Sabbath day in play. To provide a
pleasant place where they could employ their time more profitably, he erected
a neat and tasty little chapel at a cost of about $2000. This he named
"Glenco Chapel," and upon its
completion donated it to the "Ebenezer" church. It was
dedicated by Rev. L. H. King, of New York. In 1873, Mr. Shaurman placed a trust fund of $4300 in the hands of the
society to provide an annuity of $300 or more to pay for the services of a
pastor to hold services at the chapel. This was placed in the hands of
Ira Williams and Solomon Avery, to be securely invested. The present membership of the church
is about two hundred. A Sabbath-school was organized in 1846, and has been pretty steadily maintained until the
present. With the exception, however, of the past year, it has been a
summer school only. It now numbers about ninety scholars,
and has a force of twenty-two officers and teachers. Its library
contains over two hundred volumes. The present officers are Henry E.
Best, superintendent; Augustus Ham, secretary; Cornelius Ham, librarian;
Robert A. Roraback, treasurer. ::HOME::TAGHKANIC INDEX::
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