Bishop Seybert Museum and Archives

Bishop John Seybert 
   1791-1860

Seybert United Methodist Church (former Evangelical) of Bellevue, Ohio is indebted to the United Methodist Historical Society of Ohio as well as the East and West Ohio Commission on Archives and History for permission to establish a repository for the personal effects and historical articles pertaining to Bishop John Seybert, first bishop of the former Evangelical church.

It seems entirely fitting that Seybert Church should house these items of such a spiritual symbolism and historic moment. Not only does Seybert Church bear the name of this sainted circuit rider and evangelist, but its very location bears out its suitability for the housing of these artifacts. It is located about half way between the site of the Historic Parker house on Route 20 west where the Bishop died, and the Old Stone Church near Flat Rock where his funeral was held, and the nearby cemetery where he was buried. (Both places have been historic Shrines for over on hundred years.) Therefore the esteem and regard for this pioneer evangelist of the former Evangelical Church is today treasured in this community as in no other place.

In addition to the cooperation of the historical society and conference archives and history commissions, Seybert Church acknowledges the efforts of the General Commission on Archives and History of the United Methodist Church of Madison, New Jersey. Seybert church is indebted to the Rev. Jerry Evans, former pastor, who first created the awareness of the spiritual heritage of the church and through whose foresight and timely efforts, did much to expedite the amassing of information concerning the whereabouts of the personal effects of Bishop Seybert. We are also thankful for the generosity of Dr. Roy B. Leedy, the great historian and author of the Ohio Conference of the former Evangelical Church in sharing his papers with our archives center. These papers are a wealth of first hand historical knowledge of the original Pioneers that made of the Evangelical Association in Ohio in the 19th and 20th century.

Bishop John Seybert, a bachelor, was born in Pennsylvania, and grew up to be a circuit rider throughout the mid-west, including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin as well as Pennsylvania, New York, and even Ontario Canada. He gave forty years of service to the Lord: First as an itinerant evangelical preacher, labeler as a presiding elder of a district, and the last twenty years as an itinerant Bishop. Tireless in pursuing his God-given call he traveled during this long period of service, on foot, on horseback, and in a horse-drawn wagon, a distance of 175,000 miles, preached 9850 sermons, held 8,000 prayer and class meeting, made about 46,000 pastoral calls and made 10,000 calls on the sick. It is doubtful if the extent of his travels could be equaled by any other personage of his time. On the meager salary of $100 per year, he often paid his own frugal expenses from his salary.

In his round of duties, no place was too far, no hour too late, no effort too great for him to counsel with a person or to preach to a gathering or to a congregation, in the interest of reaching souls for Christ's Kingdom. Neither sickness nor weariness could discourage him from continuing his travels. Often half-sick from exposure (for he often slept outside) he nevertheless pursued his daily travels and his preaching and exhorting duties.

Sensing a great need for good reading to disseminate gospel truth, he serves as a colporteur of many books and tracts in his journeys. Cognizant of the scarcity of books in the Western area of the church. He did more than any other person in the history of the Evangelical church to transport books wherever they were needed. Three times he brought a cargo of books across the mountains of Pennsylvania to Ohio. In the year 1842 he brought 23,725 volumes to the Ohio Conference when it met.

After becoming Bishop, John Seybert made fifteen trips to Ohio in the interest of the church, and spent an average of one hundred sixty seven days each year in Ohio. It seems fitting that his travel should end in Ohio where he spent himself so much in loving and sacrificial service. Thus it was at the Isaac Parker home where the Bishop stopped, being grievously ill, and where he died on January 4, 1860, at the age of sixty eight years.

Among the many articles on display relating to Bishop Seybert, some merit special attention and description. Perhaps the most outstanding is the spring wagon, the third and last he owned. It stands in a special place of honor inside the main entrance of the church. The Bishop's German Bible in it's leather case is especially meaningful, His English and German New Testament was placed in the cornerstone of the former Seybert Church building on East Main Street when it was built. The Bible was moved to our present cornerstone when the current church building was built.

Seybert Church deems it a privilege and honor to be the custodian of these efforts and enthusiasm of museum pieces so fraught with spiritual significance. May Seybert Church never lose the thrill of a glorious past, especially as lived out in the life of Bishop John Seybert, and may she draw from it the stimulating challenge to serve well the future. As was spoken in the Book of Daniel:; John Seybert did indeed, "Turn Many to Righteousness."

The prayer of Seybert Church is: 
"O God, to us may grace be given to follow in his footsteps."