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BROOKE COUNTY, WV

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Brooke County VA/WV Marriages

EARLY CHURCHES OF BROOKE COUNTY

EARLY CHURCHES OF BROOKE COUNTY

.....The development of church congregations within the Brooke County area is somewhat hazy. It is known that as early as 1781 religious services of an organized sort were being held in various places throughout the county both in outdoor gatherings and in the homes of settlers.

.....Possibly the oldest existing church group in Brooke County is the Kadesh Chapel Church located on Apple Pie Ridge road between West Liberty and Hammond Community.

.....Kadesh Chapel was organized under what was known as the Ohio circuit, formed in 1787 and embracing Ohio county, Virginia and Washington county, Pennsylvania and scattered settlements on both sides of the Ohio River. This was a Methodist circuit. It is on record that Judge Thomas SCOTT of Chillicothe, Ohio preached at the Chapel in 1791.

.....Another early congregational effort was the Castleman's Campground, a short distance east of Bethany. This, too, was associated with the early Methodists and was started in the early 1800's.

.....The Presbyterians were also active in the early years of Brooke County. Rev. David HERVEY organized the first Presbyterian Church in Wellsburg starting his preaching in the Court House and other places as early as 1835. By 1838, he had gathered together sufficient followers to build a church.

....The Presbyterian Church of Holliday’s Cove, (Weirton), had it’s humble beginnings in the late 1780’s at the home of pioneer James CAMPBELL. In 1790, James Campbell deeded five acres to the congregation for the construction of “Three Springs Presbyterian Church.”The first sermon being delivered in November 1790 by the Rev. John BRICE. The Rev, Elisha McCURDY was installed as the first regular minister in 1799, and served both the Three Springs congregation and the Cross Roads Church at nearby Florence, Pa. The “Great Revival” of 1802 began under Rev, McCURDY at Three Springs Presbyterian Church.

.....Meanwhile, the Methodists had erected a building in Wellsburg about 1815. A considerable congregation of Methodists had also gathered in the area known as Franklin Community and for many years worshipped in a building erected at private expense on the farm of C.H. GIST.

.....Among the earliest evidence of activity by the Baptist in Brooke County was "The Regular Baptist Church" erected in Wellsburg on land deeded to the congregation in 1816. Among those raising money to build the church was Alexander CAMPBELL who was to later lead the congregation into a newer movement called the Disciples of Christ.

.....One of the oldest churches in the county is St John's Episcopal Church located on Eldersville Road about nine miles from Follansbee.

.....This congregation was organized by Dr Joseph DODDRIDGE about 1793 and DODDRIDGE continued to preach there for thirty years. The present building housing the congregation dated from about 1849.

.....The development of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) into America's largest indigenous religious body from humble beginnings in Brooke County is a story much to large for these limited pages.

.....Suffice it to say that from a meeting on the headwaters of Buffalo Creek in 1809 came a movement which spread across the developing United States and today numbers several millions among its adherents.

....Alexander CAMPBELL, a young Presbyterian minister son of Thomas CAMPBELL, a Presbyterian minister, took up residence on a farm near whet is now the Town of Bethany. From this point he traveled extensively, wrote voluminously, preached all over Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, joined forces with the movement led by Barton W. Stone in Kentucky and gave church history of Brooke County its greatest luminary.

Note, the above story was donated by The Brooke County Genealogical Society Inc.

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