(Chapter flow:)
ITS ORIGIN AND TOWN LIMITS
TOWN LIMITS
GROWTH, CHANGE OF NAME, ETC.
MERCANTILE ASPECT
MANUFACTURING
TRADES ETC.
SHIPPING INTERESTS
EASTERN SHORE STEAMBOAT CO.
SHIP BUILDING ETC.
HOTELS, LIVERY STABLES, ETC.
PHYSICIANS
LAWYERS
POST OFFICE
PRINTING OFFICES
SOCIAL ASPECT, ETC.
MORAL ASPECT
TEMPERANCE CAUSE
SCHOOLS
CHURCHES
Note: In duplicating this material for publishing on The Pocomoke Public Eye we have made minor adjustments to correct some of the spelling, punctuation, etc. We believe the errors were not in Rev. Murray's original writing but occurred in the process of formatting the material to a digital format for viewing online.
CHURCHES (CONTINUED.)
The Methodist Protestant Church was organized in
New Town in 1832. The first class formed was com-
posed of Rev. Avra Melvin and wife, Drucilla Powell,
Theopilus Powell, Mary Powell, Sarah M. Powell, Com-
fort Powell, Levin Davis and wife, William Tilghman,
George S. Blades, William Payden, Ibba Chapman, Polly
Blades, James Blades, Edward Young and wife, Leah
Mills and Thomas Melvin. The first preachers sent to
the circuit were Revs. Avra Melvin and Stephen Taylor.
The first preaching places were the old schoolhouse,
Sally Jones's hotel and Rev. Avra Melvin's house on the
the farm now belonging to Col. William J. Aydelotte.
The class meetings and sacramental services were held at
Mr. Melvin's house.
In 1833, the preachers held a camp-meeting on the old
Quinton Camp-ground, near Nassawango Creek Bridge.
At this camp-meeting the renowned Thomas H. Stockton
preached on Sabbath morning. There was a large
concourse of people in attendance. After the preliminary
service was over the preacher took his text, which
embraced the Bible as the subject under consideration.
While he proceeded to unfold and present, in graphic-
style, the blessedness of God's holy book, all eyes were
upon him, for he seemed more like a living skeleton or an
angel; he raised the Bible from the stand and folding his
skeleton arms around it; he pressed it to his bosom and
exclaimed, in the way in which he alone could do it:.
"God bless the book!" Some of the people were greatly
moved, not only by his oratory, but by his ghostly appear-
ance, exclaimed: "God bless the man!" Mr. Stockton
was a good man, and an orator of the first magnitude.
In 1834, the society purchased of Sally Jones, the piece
of ground where the present church now stands, and also
an old store house belonging to John Burnett, which
stood at the corner of Market and Second Streets, where
Henry King, Esq., now lives, this they moved on the
ground they had purchased, and fitted it up to worship in.
This house stood for four years, when they sold it and
built a new one with a belfry, in which they hung the first
church bell in New Town. This house, however, was not
what they wanted, it was too small and too temporarily-
built.
In 1853, they built the present one, and it, though a
good building is also too small; and they now have in
course of erection, a larger and more commodious temple
in a more central part of the city.
The foundation has already been laid, and the laying of
the cornerstone was conducted with Masonic ceremonies
on the 2nd day of June, 1882. The dimensions of the
church are 40 by 70 feet; the basement is 10 feet
between floor and ceiling; the audience room is 20 feet
from floor to ceiling. The tower in front is 14 feet
square, and its height is 104 feet. It has a recess for pul-
pit 14 feet front with 5 feet projection. The main audi-
ence room is 40 by 60 feet. The church is two
stories high; the basement is for sabbath school, class and
prayer meeting purposes, and the second story is the
audience room for preaching. This church when com-
pleted will cost, including the cost of the ground, $6,000,
and will be the finest temple in Pocomoke City. This
church has a membership of one hundred and fifty-three,
and a flourishing Sabbath school; composed of six officers,
eleven teachers and one hundred and two pupils, with an
average of sixty in attendance. The School takes one
hundred and twenty-five Sabbath school papers, and has
two hundred and sixty-eight volumes in the library. The
property belonging to this church consists of the church,
two parsonages and a cemetery, aggregating a value of
$5,000, and the new church and ground when completed
will add $6,000 more. The whole church property, then,
will amount to 11,000 dollars.
The running expenses for this church annually
amounts to, including preacher's salary, conference collec-
tions, incidental expenses of church and Sabbath School,
765 dollars. It is due the pastor of this church, for me
to say that he receives a salary of 700 dollars, but having
another appointment at James Town in Somerset County,
that appointment pays 250 dollars of his salary. The
preachers who have preached in this church from its
organization, in regular succession, are as follows : Revs.
Avra Melvin, Stephen Taylor, Geo. D. Hamilton, Elias
Williams, Thos G. Clayton, William Sexsmith, A. G. Grove,
Reuben T. Boyd, John Keller, John R. Nichols, Henry
Miller, Levin A. Collins, A. S- Eversole, John A. Jackson,
William Fisher, Johnson C. Davis, Thomas A. Moore,
Daniel F. Ewell, William Rienick, Theophilus Burton.
R. S. Norris ,J. M. Sharpley, J. M. Ellegood, Thomas M.
Bryan, C. M. Littleton, B. F, Brown, G. S. May, J. W.
Pennewell, James Thomson, C. Eversole, James K.
Nichols, L. W. Bates, W. M. Strayer, Henry Nice, C. F.
Cochel, Daniel Bowers, J. W. Gray, W. McK. Poisal, J.
B. Jones, Jesse Shreeve, W. D. Litsinger, Samuel T.
Graham, H. E, Miskiman, Robert S. Rowe, A. T. Melvin,
D. L. Greenfield, J. E. Maloy, James T. Lassell, B. F.
Benson, J. E. T. Ewell and S. A. Hoblitzell.
In this list of names are some of the ablest ministers 0f
the Maryland Annual conference. The Rev. Avra Mel-
vin was born near New Town, Worcester County, Md., in
1780. He embraced Christianity, joined the Methodist
Episcopal Church, and in 1800 he was licensed to preach.
Some time after this he joined the Philadelphia conference.
He traveled several years in the conference and then took
a location and settled on the old homestead, where he
remained in the capacity of a local preacher until 1832,
when the Methodist Protestant Church was organized in
New Town. He was the chief spirit in its organization
and for his service in that instance the Methodist Protestant
Church in New Town owes more to him than any other
man. It has been said of him that he has preached more
funeral sermons, performed more marriage ceremonies
and baptized more persons, than any other man in this
section of the country, in his day. He was a good
preacher, had a wonderful memory and consequently had
always in store a plenty to say on short notice. He died
on his farm near New Town in 1853, in the seventy third
year of his age.
L. W. Bates traveled his first year on this circuit; since
that date he has filled the best appointments in his confer-
ence. He has been president of the Maryland Annual
Conference, and president of the General Conference of the
Methodist Protestant Church. He has had for distin-
guished mental abilities and broad culture, the degree of
Doctor of Divinity conferred upon him. James K. Nichols
is one of the best of men, he is an able preacher, has
been president of the Maryland Annual Conference, and
has received for his great worth the degree of Doc-
tor of Divinity. While there are a host of others, who
have preached the gospel in this city and are deserving a
place of remembrance in this history, yet I must pass them
by with this remark, that they all have helped to build up
a strong church.
The Rev. S. A. Hoblitzell is the present pastor, and he
is a good preacher and a faithful worker. He also served
this charge twenty-three years ago with Doctor James
K. Nichols.
Rev. Wm. Dale is an unstationed minister belonging
to or holding his membership with this church. He was
born in St. Martin's district, in Worcester County, Md.,
on the 1st day of January, 1823. He was educated at
Snow Hill Academy and at Windsor Theological Insti-
tute, located in Baltimore County, Md., Rev. Francis
Waters, D.D., principal. He embraced Christianity when
a youth and joined the Methodist Protestant Church.
At the age of 20 years, he entered the traveling connection
in that church and continued in that relation for fifteen
years, when he located and has remained so to the
present time. Mr. Dale is a leading man in his church,
and in the community at large, he is chairman of the state
board of public schools for Worcester County, and one
of the wealthiest men of Pocomoke City. In reviewing
the history of the Methodist Protestant Church in New
Town, the reader will observe, by noticing the date of
its organization, that this year, 1882, is the semi-centennial
year of its existence, and the statistics show it to be in
quite a flourishing condition.
CONTINUES NEXT SATURDAY HERE AT THE POCOMOKE PUBLIC EYE.
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