LIVING OUR HISTORY

In celebration of our 140th anniversary as an organized Methodist Episcopal Church, our History Committee included a note in each week's bulletin about some event or milestone in the history of the United Methodist of Wyanet.

1. The Biginning:
Wyanet has been part of several Annual Conferences since its establishment. In 1798 the "Western Conference" included Illinois, where one circuit rider was appointed. In 1824 Illinois was separated from Missouri, and in 1830 the first religious service in Bureau County was conducted by Elijah Epperson in the John Hall home.

Jesse Walker began Methodist work in Chicago, Peoria, Joliet, Princeton, Lockport and Plainfield, and Princeton is given place as the meeting for the Northern Illinois Conference in 1840.

We later became part of the Rock River Conference, and upon union with the Evangelical United Brethren in 1968, Northern Illinois Conference again. Changing circumstances make adaptation necessary!


2. The Circuit Riders:
Wyanet was still in "the wild frontier" when it was served by circuit riders. They rode horseback, carrying a Bible and perhaps a change of clothing, staying in homes and preaching to clusters of pioneers meeting in someone's log cabin. The closest actual record found tells of the new Northern Peoria (or Chicago?) Missionary district in 1834. It was part of the Northern Illinois Conference, established two years earlier. The preacher's schedule was as follows: "On Thursday he traveled to B. Johnson's at Troy Grove to preach and lead class; Friday to John Long's on the banks of the Little Vermilion near LaSalle; Saturday at Bro. Miller's six miles below Peru, Sunday at eleven preach at John Hall's on the Little Bureau, in the afternoon preach at Abraham Jones, northwest of Princeton; on Monday return home by way of Henepin and Magnolia, making in all 300 miles riding around the Mission." "Home", I believe, was Peoria, at that time still larger and more important than Chicago.

3. Our Town at That Time:
The Walnut-Wyanet Road was the first "trail" settlers built in this part of Illinois. When lead was discovered in Galena in 1924, settlers at Fort Clark (Peoria) had to go down the Mississippi to Rock Island to secure lead and sell supplies to the rapidly developing settlement of workers at the mine. Soon they felt the need for a shorter route, and in 1827 the Kellogg Trail ran the 120 miles across the open and completely unsettled prairie from Peoria to Galena.
Two years later the Henry Thomas family settled north of Wyanet; Bulbona had his trading post seven miles south, and farther south was Charles S. Boyd, who had helped lay out the road.
This pioneer trail brought a four-horse coach, a mail route and many immigrants' wagons. Several families settled north and east of the present village of Wyanet, including the Solomon Sapp family, who began the Methodist meetings in their home. Circuit riders would doubtless come as they passed that way, though it was 1855 before our congregation was organized into a Methodist Episcopal society.
Hardy pioneers started services at a time when everything in life was done with great difficulty. I suspect they, like Jacob in the Old Testament, needed to feel the presence of God in this lonely prairie country.


4. A Worship Meeting
In 1838, a small band of pioneers met for worship in the Sapp home, about two miles northeast of Wyanet. This continued until the spring of 1855, when the Rev. Timothy L. Pomeroy became pastor of the newly-organized Methodist Society.

In June of 1932, the Seventy-seventh Anniversary of our church included a historic sketch written and read by W.E. Sapp (we have a copy!). The celebration recognized four members with unbroken church rnembership for three generations. They were Mrs. Elijah Mosher, 67 years; Mrs. Jennie Kidd and Mrs. Robert Montgomery, 62 years; and Mrs. Cora B. Sapp, 57 years.


5. Our First Pastor:
Our church's first pastor, Rev Timothy Pomeroy, had an eventual life, even before corning to Wyanet. He was born in Otisco, New York, in 1815, married Alzina Hough, and two years later made the difficult trip to Illinois in 1836. Seven years later Alzina died, apparently in childbirth at Shabbona. This left Timothy with two boys two and four years old, who lived for a time with an uncle and aunt. The next year the young father returned with "a new mother", as the older boy, Emerson, later wrote. He and his younger brother, Fletcher, lived at least twice with an aunt and uncle near La Moille, while Timothy was settling in a new location or in one of several illnesses.

Emerson also wrote about living on a number of farms: near Shabbona Grove, Galena, on an island in the Mississippi, back to Galena, a claim near Nora, the Campbell farm (where?), fifty acres between Rockford and Cherry Valley, and eighty acres near Wyanet. At this time Pomeroy joined the old Methodist Rock River Conference (1855), and began preaching at our church.

More about Rev. Timothy Pomeroy:
What about the founder of our local community? The Rev. Timothy Pomeroy was born in "Otisco", New York (which may mean Cooperstown, on Lake Otsego), September 16, 1815. He came to Chicago in 1837. He married Alzina Hough in September of 1838 in DeKaib County. Alzina died the day after the birth of their third child, in 1843.

The next year, he married Lydia Kellogg, and they had five more children. The family moved to Galena and spent a winter on an island in the Mississippi, chopping wood. Those were not the only serious problems, for in 1848 Timothy nearly died of smallpox, and at another time he was "blind with sore eyes for seven months." He came to Hennepin on the daily stagecoach from Chicago.

In Pomeroy's own words, he "preached the first sermon ever heard in Wyanet" in the fall of 1854. He helped Rev. Gilbert, pastor of the Princeton circuit, to organize the Methodist church there, and in 1855, Pomeroy was appointed as pastor "to organize and care for Wyanet circuit". Bishop Janes appointed him to preach at Wyanet, West Bureau, Carter's Schoolhouse and the regions beyond." Part of the "beyond" was Walnut Grove, where he preached and organized the Methodist church. So we date our organization as a Methodist society from this date, although there had been worship in the Solomon Sapp home since 1838.

The area was still sparsely settled, although we would find the Kellogg Trail (Walnut-wyanet Road) where it is today.

6. Our Church Buildings:
Do you realize that our church home on Main Street is the fifth location at which our faith community have gathered for worship, study, and prayer? Our first home was of course the Solomon Sapp house, north and east of town about two miles. The second place our forbears met was a schoolhouse which appears to have been on the Walnut-Wyanet Road, a bit south of Main Street, "on the site of the Jonas Peterson house'. Thirdly, meetings were held in the new school, built on the corner north of this house, possibly where John and Gayle Dunkel's antique cottage presently stands.
In 1860 the first church was built, a frame building on Arch Street, thirty by forty feet. Solomon Sapp, "one of the early members", was a generous contributor to the total cost of $1,100. The following year a parsonage was built. The present brick building was built on Main Street in 1890. It provided enough space for the many new members who were converted in the revival conducted by the famous Billy Sunday. A newspaper clipping about the dedication describes it as "one of the prettiest churches in Illinois." We need to appreciate the unusual brick patterns (and think about giving to the fund to paint the metal trim on the exterior!)

7. Early Contributions:
The time came to erect a building for Wyanet UMC instead of meeting in homes and schoolhouses in 1860. At Quarterly Conference, Elder Stephen Kayes nominated Solomon Sapp to build a church. He chose Mr. Gifford and Mr. Hayes to help him. Two lots were purchased on Arch Street, a block south of Main Street, for a total cost of $40 or $55. A forty-by-fifty-foot building was planned, and lumber and bricks were ordered, delivered, and paid for before any money was pledged--quite a leaping out in faith!

Solomon Sapp gave $200, H.F. Royce (station agent at Pond Creek or South Wyanet) $50, and other contributions totaling $550. Mr. Sapp then paid the total bill of $1100 for the new building. Four years later the trustees had not paid any of the remaining balance of $300.

Rev. W.A. Fisher proposed a train excursion to the Rock Island arsenal. The successful project produced $700, after expenses. After paying off the note, $100 was given to the minister, and the remainder went into the treasury.

$1100 may not sound to us like a huge amount for building a church, but it must have meant much more to the pioneers of that day. This is an account of imagination, dedication, and the Holy Spirit at work in the faith community! We who follow in their footsteps really do have a goodly heritage!

8. The Histoy of Women's Groups(UMW)

WILLING WORKERS:
To serve beyond the local church, our women organized the "Willing Workers" in 1909, under Mrs. A. B. Dickens, the pastor's wife and great grandmother of Dixie Price.

They sewed for children in local families where there was illness, sent clothing to the Deaconess Home in Chicago, fruit to Lake Bluff Home for Children, and food the inhabitants of the Cherry Mine Disaster.
They continued making and trying quilts and sending clothing, fruit, eggs and money to the Agard Rest Home, an Old People's Home, and Marcy Center in Chicago. The Willing Workers contributed money and hours of service to World Wars I and II Red Cross Projects.

The work and the group continue today, now known as the Esther Circle. You will find them at the church every month, making strips for the lovelv rag rugs that sell so well at our annual bazaar.

WOMAN's Society:
The women of our church have always been a strong base workers and pray-ers. There have been several different organizations. First came the Ladies' Aid Society, organized in 1881. Ten years later, the Women's Foreign Missionary Society formed. In 1909 the Willing Workers were organized and the Tri-Sigma in 1922 for younger ladies. In 1941 the Ladies' Aid Society became the Woman's Society of Christian Service; the Willin8 Workers and the Wonien's foreign Misstonary wer joined in 1944. The Tri-Sigma group carne in later on. The United Methodist Women, our present organization, served the WSCS in 1973. It continues alive and well, containing Esther Circie, Ruth Scharff Handicraft Circle, as well as die overall society.

9. A Report tells Us...
In a "Pastor's Report to the Official Board" of May 21, 1951, Pastor David Denslow included some of this information:
Sunday School attendance averaged 86 for March, April and May.
Morning worship attendance averaged 70 for the same period.
Young Adult Fellowship met April 1 with about 30 persons present, and May 6 with about fifteen.
"Women's Society, Tri-Sigma and Dorcas have maintained their regular schedule of meetings during this period, with good attendance and good programs."
"Weddings--One, Jean Hudson and John Gordon, Jr., at the church, 7 April, 1951."

These statistics are impressive to us; there was much more going on in our faith community forty years ago. But if we who make up the congregation today would attend with the faithfulness' they showed, we could easily have that many or more participating in worship and study, and growing from the experience. Let us renew the covenant we made when we joined the United Methodist Church. Let us support our church with our prayers and presence, as well as with our gifts and service.

Extra:

A Local News Paper Article Mentions Our Church History: "Church marks 140th year"
In 1995, the United Methodist Church of Wyanet cele-brates the 140th anniversary of its founding as a Methodist Episcopal Church, As a part of this observance, the church will hold an open house during the Wyanet Summer Festival on Saturday, July 8 from noon to 2p.m. Historical exhibits will be on display, and lunch will be available
The United Methodist Church of Wyanet stands on the town's Main Street. Built in 1890, the present building has interesting brick pat-terns and lovely stained-glass windows.
The history of this worshipping community began in 1838, meeting for worship in tbe smaU settler cabin of Solomon Sapp, about two miles northeast of Wyanet. As the town grew, the congregation moved in 1858 to an old schoolhouse in town. It stood beside the old Kellogg Trail, the earliest land route from Peoria to Galena.
Two years later, in 1840, members erected their first real church building, a 1,200-square-foot frame building. This served for worship for 50 years, until construction of the brick church on Main Street. Then the the frame structure was moved to a location next door to the new brick church and converted to a parsonage.
The 143 members have varied ski]is and great dedication to their faith community. They a]l contribute to the church's witness to the community by sharing a pastor with another congregation. Thcru is church school for all ages and a women's group with four different cir-cles,
The United Methodist Church of Wyanet has always had a vision of their mission beyond the local community, contributing work and nec-essary supplies to needs in other places. The church has maintained a close link with the Lake Bluff Home for Children, supplying clothing and bedding. Madge Brieser, church member and historian, helped teach the children there while attending teachers' college in Evanston.