A Little History
Web-Administrator's note:
We've been doing a little history on the church, and we came across this history pulled together for the 150 year anniversary of our church. I'm going to run it here pretty much unedited for a while...
150 Years - -
It is 1981 and we are spending the year celebrating Canal Fulton United Methodist Church's 1 50th anniversary, dating from the time the first permanent church building was erected on the lot next to the Pioneer Cemetery.
Our story begins in 1808 with the first settlers that came to this part of Ohio. In 1785 the Tuscarawas River had marked the western boundary of the United States, but by the treaty of Fort Industry in 1805 all land west of the rivers was relinquished by the Indians. J.H. Larwell surveyed the west side of the Tuscarawas in 1807 and land was put up for sale in Canton in 1808. The first improvement was made at Newman Creek, named after Jacob Newman, chain-carrier and axeman for the surveying party, by Henry Clapper and Henry Lower. These men arrived in 1808 with horses, farming utensils, and five weeks' provisions. In that time they cleared, plowed, and sowed three acres. They had a brush shelter and slept either in their wagon or on the ground. The next March Clapper came back with his brother Daniel and raised a cabin, the first erected in the township.
Sometime between 1810 and 1812 the Reverend James Dixon preached at the cabin of William Crites, who along with Jeremiah Atkinson, Matthew Metcalf, Richard Hardgrove, John Evans and Robert Lytle had settled and improved land in the area. Dixon had been appointed by the Western Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church meeting in Shelby County, Kentucky, to the Tuscarawas Circuit of the Muskingum District, an area of 90 miles which extended from Coshocton to New Portage.
Men like Dixon were among the hardiest of the early pioneers. Traveling on horseback, they found a night's lodging in a friendly cabin whenever they could. Preaching was done wherever people would listen - cabins, taverns, barns and under trees. The inexpensive books they carried in their saddlebags kept the light of education alive on the frontier. Accidents, sickness and death were common and circuit riders often found themselves ministering to bodies as well as souls.
Epidemics of disease were frequent and records reveal whole communities were wiped out by small pox, diptheria, typhoid or maleria.
Danger from the Indians was not completely over in Ohio - in 1812 the Reverend James Copus and some of his family of wife and nine children were massacred by Indians at Blackfork, ten miles east of Mansfield - but lawless hoodlums who had been banished from eastern communities caused the preachers more constant trouble and the fact that the circuit riders were young and in good physical condition was put to use in ousting disrupters from their services.
The cabins where they visited were log. The beds were cotton ticks often filled with dried leaves. Corn and wild game were staple foods and clothing was homespun and buckskin. A man's regular costume included powder-horn, shot-pouch, gun and tomahawk. The Miller brothers, Elias and Joseph, remembered their cabin not having a door until their father Henry could find time to hew one. A blanket hung over the opening and a fire was kept going to keep the wolves away. Most of the land was woods and it was not uncommon for the scattered members of a Methodist society, on hearing of a preacher, to travel ten or twenty miles through the trees to invite him to come and preach at their cabin, marking the way for him by blazing trees.
Local preachers organized classes of around a dozen people to meet together for weekly devotionals. A number of these local preachers were among the convention that formed the constitution of the state of Ohio in 1803 and one of them, Edward Tiffin, was elected Ohio's first governor. Classes were organized into societies which met regularly for fellowship in cabins or preaching houses. Circuits were organized that allowed itinerant preachers to administer the sacraments to the societies. In bad weather, people used to say, "There's no one out today but crows and Methodist preachers."
The message the circuit riders brought was one of enthusiasm and hope - of a God who wants all men saved and who has made man free to comply with the conditions of salvation. Religion puts us all on one footing - we are all one before God. The grace and love of God are therefor us to acceptthey are freely offered in Christ. Wesley's injunction to sing out praises was evident when Methodists gathered. Charles Wesley's hymns became popular and John's rules for singing were given out with Scripture lessons. Critics invented the term "shouting Methodists" to describe the high degree of enthusiasm generated in meetings when exuberant members expressed approval of a preacher's message with high-pitched "amens."
John Somerville was appointed the Tuscarawas Circuit in 1812 and probably organized the first Methodist society here. For the next nineteen years, meetings were held in private homes, barns, and in the school house. The only record of this period is Somerville's quarterage appropriation of $24.66, but many of the early log homes still survive (although now covered with siding) and many of the early settler's descendants names appear on later church records.
The character of the land was changing. Forest wilderness was being converted into fruitful farmland. A town was developing along the banks of the proposed Ohio-Erie Canal and by 1832, five years after it was begun, the completion of the canal brought un-hoped for prosperity to the area. Great grain warehouses, two general stores, a post office, and two taverns now lined the banks of the canal. In 1831 the first permanent Methodist church building was constructed on River Road, just north of the cemetery, marking the beginning of our history as an organized church. Not only could farmers' goods be sold at higher prices in faraway markets, but the canal and the completion of the National Road in 1825 brought an influx of immigrants. Ohio grew to become the third most populous state in the nation and Methodist membership multiplied five times.
The rapid expansion caused a few ripples in the Methodist organization. Morals questions began to arise by 1838 and questions were raised of ministers' wives associating with "unChristian" people. Horse-jockeying and ministers making and imbibing alcoholic beverages became topics of debate. In 1841 a general conference decision prohibited the making and selling of alcoholic beverages by ministers and laity. In 1843 some progressive churches began using an organ during services, but it was still a subject of controversy. Whiskers were considered a "mark of the beast." Anti-slavery viewpoints began to be argued by many Methodist leaders and the Missionary Society was formed in 1841.
Conference records of 1849 show the Canal Fulton Methodist Church on the Dalton Circuit along with Dalton, East Greenville, Doylestown, Bristol, West Brookfield, Union Chapel, Lawrenceville, Young's, Clinton, Orrville, Chippewa, Smithville, and Marshallville. Records were kept of the Circuit as a whole, but one would surmise that the John Robinson recorded as a life-member of the North Ohio Conference Missionary Society in 1855 was Canal Fulton's "Merchant Prince," who had come to town in 1823 and grew to become one of the principal grain buyers and warehouse owners in the village. Banker, post-master, and financial advisor for more than thirty years, Robinson built the Federal style brick home that stands behind the more elaborate frame Victorian one his son later erected on North Canal Street. Other names listed as life members that probably came from Canal Fulton were Sarah and James Porter and Catherine Miller. A total of $19.63 was forwarded from the Circuit to New York!
In 1856, with the Reverend Luke S. Johnson as minister, the present brick sanctuary was constructed at Cherry and River Road, on land reputedly donated by the Hardgrove family. Though the exterior of the original building has been little changed (two windows replaced the two front doors), there is no record of what the interior was like during those early years. Tradition says that the pulpit was in the center of the south wall and conference records show a seating capacity of 350.
Canal Fulton is listed separately under the Dalton Circuit records of 1857 giving us the names of more members of that period when our Sunday School enrollment numbered 558.
During the years that Canal Fulton reigned as a trade center for Northeast Ohio it would seem that many of the town fathers were among our membership and records indicate Sunday School enrollment of 700 in 1849, '50, and '5 1. We were still a member of circuit, however, and shared a minister with other churches. During the Civil War over 100 volunteers enlisted from Canal Fulton. Pre-war Ohio had fifteen farmers to every urban dweller, after 1865 the ratio changed to five to one. The arrival of the railroad in 1869 produced further change - it marked the beginning of the decline of the canal as a major means of transportation and towns like Canton, Massillon, and Akron began to pass us by as commercial centers.
The discovery of coal in the area in 1865 helped Canal Fulton hold on for a while, as more than 300 coal miners immigrated from England, Scotland, Wales and later Germany. Businesses catering to the coal industry were started like the Fulton Tool and Manufacturing Company, the Fulton Pit Car Works, and Fulton Machine Company. By 1868 the enrollment in our church had begun to decline. Other denominations were organized and doubtlessly some members gravitated to them. The town population remained at around 1,000, with history recording that many of the leading citizens moved further west to states like Kansas. In 1869 the Methodist Church nationally gave its support to the Temperance Movement and Methodists in Canal Fulton began having regular temperance meetings. (Behavior down at "Brimstone Corners" among the canawlers and the coal miners doubtessly influenced the intensity of their belief.) The Methodist Church had always taken a part in political activities of the nation, and a lot of strong feeling was produced over the post-Civil War South and the race issue. From 1870 to '76 there was an "Organ War" among Methodist churches in Ohio, but the acceptance of musical instruments in church services finally gave rise to hymnals with music.
We now arrive at the period of the people on the windows - Mr. and Mrs. C.W. Breece, Mr. and Mrs. Elias Miller, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Miller, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Buck, Mr. and Mrs. John H. Focht, Mr. and Mrs. David Gilcher, Mr. and Mrs. W.G. Myers, Mr. and Mrs. Jasper Kittinger, and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Weil. Their stories - plus those of the William Hardgroves, George Hoovers, E.J. McLaughlins, David McGees and others - have been told in the monthly Church Bells and will be kept in our permanent church history record. They were hard-working people whose joy in their religion and desire to do God's work kept the Canal Fulton United Methodist Church alive. In 1877, the number of churches on our circuit was reduced to three (Canal Fulton, Clinton, and North Lawrence) and in 1905 the Clinton church dropped so that North Lawrence and Canal Fulton shared a minister until 1955, when we became a station charge under the ministry of Clifford G. Bloor.
In 1888 "extensive remodeling" was done under the ministry of Rev. Thomas Struggles. The annex was added in 1915 during the term of Rev. J.L. Herron, an organ and piano were purchased, the church papered, and a furnace installed. At this time the stained glass windows were purchased. This was the period of church dinners served in the basement of the Exchange Bank with every bit of food being donated by members; Epworth League meetings for the young people; Wednesday night Bible study; and mission talks in the evenings. People still came to church in horse and buggy, tying their horses out in the parking lot during service. The altar moved to the west after the addition and the Sunday School classes were scattered around the corners of the church, the choir loft, and the room to the southwest.
1913 was the year of the Great flood, when many parishoners lost their livelihood as lumber and buildings were washed down the river. It was the year, however, that Grace Hardgrove Pitz joined our church and today she is recognized as our "oldest" member (in years she has belonged to the church, as she is quick to point out.) Coal had begun to run out in 1905 and the population of Canal Fulton remained around 1,000. People lived through a Depression and two World Wars. In the 1 950's we began to emerge as a "bedroom" community for many of the surrounding cities and the population began to grow. During the decade of the 50's Canal Fulton gained 297 persons, more growth than had occured in the entire preceding eighty-year period. During the 1 960's the village gained 812 people, the highest of the fourteen villages in Stark County with a growth rate of 52%. By 1970 we had 2,367 people and by 1980 - 3,481, a rate of 47.1% for the last decade.
The doors of the Canal Fulton United Methodist Church were not kept closed. During the ministries of Carl L. Gray, James Kuse, and Michael Williams, our church has continued to grow in outreach and membership. A large education wing was added in 1964. The building program just completed was first explored in 1978. After two and a half years of labor in which over 70,000 volunteer hours were expended, we have a building that remembers our past while having the physical resources to face the demands of the present and future. We rank 5th in worship attendance with the 65 churches of the Canton District, we are 1 st in rate of growth; of the nearly 900 churches in the annual conference we are 26th in worship attendance and 1 st in growth.
The journey is not over - much lies ahead for the "little brick church on the hill." Yet we can look back and know that we have come a long way, overcome many adversities, and shared much joy. A "heart-warming experience" is still felt by Canal Fulton Methodists and the doors remain open for new-comers and for new paths on which to travel.
Compiled by Ann McLaughlin
