Brethren of Stephenson County

 

 

 

 

Brethren In Northern Illinois and Wisconsin - page 242

page 30:

In the 'Christian Family Companion' of June 1872 the editor writes of his drive from Dutchtown to a love feast at West Branch and enumerates the following ministers present: Paul WETZEL of Lena, Daniel FRY of Yellow Creek, Isaac MYERS of Pennsylvania, brother of Graybill MYERS, Samuel LEHMAN of Franklin Grove, David MILLER of Polo, D.M. MILLER, Michael KIMMEL and Jacob HAUGER of Dutchtown.

page 54:

Waddams Grove (Lena) 1859

The early history of this congregation is a part of the story of Yellow Creek which you should read again. In 1859 in regular council Yellow Creek territory was divided. The northern part, then known as Waddams Grove, changed its name to Lena in 1927. The congregation numbered about seventy-five charter members. The large membership and the distance to Yellow Creek by lumber wagon justified the new organization. Daniel FRY, elder of Yellow Creek, became the elder of Waddams Grove. Enoch EBY, whose business had been teaching school and who had been called to the ministry in the East when thirty-one years of age, was made foreman. A second minister was Benjamin KEPNER, elected at Yellow Creek in 1850. Allen BOYER and John WALES were deacons.

In 1860 the Louisa meetinghouse on the old Chicago-Galena trail, two miles northwest of Lena, was erected. For fifty-seven years this substantial brick building, whose walls often rang with the eloquence of Enoch EBY, Paul WETZEL and other ministers, was a landmark in local history and in Dunker annals. The building committee was John WALES, Allen BOYER and Isaac KEMPER. Yellow Creek did not forget her pledge, but rallied to the support of the building project as had been agreed upon when the Yellow Creek house was built. The full basement, mostly above ground, gave a beautiful setting to the red brick house in the woods by the roadside.

(cont. page 58)

It was in 1904 that the women got together and as a unit planned to provide clothing and bedding for the needy, young and old, in their own community and elsewhere. Needing money to secure material, they began to quilt--all this without formal organization. After some years they organized the Aid Society with Mary SANDROCK, in whose home the meetings were held , as president. In the village of Waddams the meetings were held in the home of Katie LUTZ. In 1918 a room was fitted up in the home of Amanda MASTERS for the exclusive use of the Aid, with Portia RICHARD as president. Here were their headquarters for a number of years. Their social and educational improvement has been fostered by reading missionary literature and by keeping in touch with church activities both local and national. During the past years they have contributed about $2,250 to local and world-wide needs.

Waddams Grove began employing pastors in 1920. The eighth and present pastor, John F. BURTON, began his service in 1935. She (the church, sic) has called fifteen men to the ministry. In this number is Peter R. KELTNER, who with his wife was instrumental in building the congregations in Sterling, Rockford and Freeport.

page 69:

Shannon (1875)

For the beginning of the Shannon congregation, we go back to 1851 when Isaac LUTZ and family, new arrivals from Pennsylvania, settled at Shannon on land they had purchased without seeing. The country, however, was not wholly new to them for Mrs. Lutz had three sisters living near Lena. These sisters were: Sarah, wife of Isaac MYERS; Lydia, wife of A.H. LUTZ, who was a cousin of Isaac LUTZ; and Nancy, wife of Enoch X. MYERS.

Submitted by:Layne A. Holley on 22 Apr 2002