This section will be in 7 parts. Chapter 20 cont. ST. JOHN'S METHODIST EPIACOPAL The first arrival of the Methodist church in Scott county to minister to things spiritual was in 1835.  The first messenger sent was the Rev. E. C. Gavit, of the Ohio conference, who in the year 1835 was requested by the bishop to go west and labor among the Sac and Fox Indians.  He was also to visit all the white settlements to provide the scattered inhabitants with the means of grace.  He was expected to bear his own expenses in reaching the country and to trust God and the good will of the few white settlers for his support.  Father Gavit and Captain Sholes in the year 1835 built a frame house, which was the second erected in that vicinity, and in which he preached his first sermon and organized the first Sunday school in what is now the city of Davenport.  His missionary labors, however, were not confined to this locality.  He traveled from the Missouri state line to St. Anthony's falls, preaching in all the towns and hunting up all the white settlers along the west side of the Mississippi as far back as he could learn of any white inhabitants.  In the year 1837 Father Gavit left this field of labor and returned to Ohio.  In 1887, after more than fifty years of marvelous growth, which has made the little hamlet a prosperous city, the venerable man of God returned, to find all changed, his dusky auditors gone, and a large, intelligent audience ready and delighted to listen as he recalled the past and thrilled them with the "Old, old story." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Debbie Clough G-erischer G-erischer Family Web Site http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/ Assistant CC, Iowa Gen Web, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ List Manager for: IASCOTT-L * G-erischer-L * D-encker-L Fitzpatirck-L * V-lerebome-L * Huntington-L * Otis-L * Algar-L EIGS-L * Pickens-L * McNab-L * Patris-L - Rankin-L