When Pocomoke Was Young- A continuing weekly feature.

 

(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.