Since there are several people interested in the History of Beech Church I will send in parts. If you are still interested in the pictures please contact me . As it was taking so long to send the scanned pages I will transcribe it in parts. Each email will have the subject as Beech Church History. Centennial Beech Church 1868-1968 REDBRUSH The First BEECH CHURCH CONTENTS History of BEECH CHURCH Coal City, Indiana BEECH Families Photograph section Members of BEECH CHURCH 1868-1968 List of BEECH Ministers Sources Centennial date, August 7-11, 1968 History of Beech Church Settlement in Marion township, in which the Beech Church is located, did not begin until shortly after 1830. Among the early settlers were two United Brethren ministers William Reynolds and John McNamar, the latter being one of the heroes of the early United Brethren Church. John McNamar, formerly a school teacher, was converted in 1811 at a meeting held in Andrew Zeller’s barn near Germantown, Ohio. He soon began to preach and became an itinerant minister in 1814. He is supposed to have been the first United Brethren minister who did not preach in German. Much of his ministry was spent as a frontier missionary in southern Indiana where he organized many churches, some of which are still active. He was once elected bishop but declined the office. In 1836 he came to Owen County and settled near the Clay County line, about 5 miles northeast of where the Beech Church now stands. In the year 1843 the Wabash Conference had a net gain of 2144 members, a large number of which were converted in the celebrated camp meetings held by John McNamar in Owen and Clay Counties. He died in 1846 and was buried between Patricksburg and Jordan, where only his grave and that of his son are to be found in a lonely wooded site. The Reynolds families settled in the eastern part of Marion township about 1833. The Owen County history states, "William was a minister of the United Brethren Church, and one of the pioneer preachers of the township." Little else is known about him beyond the fact that he moved to Morgan township, where he died in 1856. Another United Brethren preacher in the early days was Isaac Johnson, who lived beside Lick Creek an short distance northeast of Denmark. There may have been others whose names have been forgotten by man and remembered only by the Lord. Despite this long record of religious activity by the United Brethren, only two churches are known to have been organized in Marion township: Otterbein in 1866 and Beech in 1868. It is likely, however, that societies were formed in the homes of the settlers, and have since been forgotten because they never erected houses of worship. The Beech Class membership rolls begin in 1868, and, since there is no evidence of the church having existed earlier, this is presumed to have been the date of organization. Following are the names of the 32 pioneer members in 1868: Michael Walters Terry Crall Matilda Walters Isaac Harbaugh John Niehart Martha Harbough Teresa Niehart Elizabeth Furry Henry Furry Sophia Winklepleck Susannah Furry Daniel Winklepleck John Furry (picture of Elizabeth Bickel Nancy Furry Sela Shonk) Serena Todd Samuel Todd Mary Seasole Margaret Todd Susan Harris Isaac Furry David Adams Elizabeth Furry Barbara Adams George Everett Lewis Cashner Elizabeth Everett Mary Cashner Eliza Jane Everett Jeremiah Furry William Crall In 1868 William Cooperider was minister of Lancaster (the old name of Patricksburg) Circuit, on which Beech was a preaching point. There was no church house, but the meetings were held in the homes of the members. One of the old traditions states that the worshippers met under a certain beech tree when the weather was favorable, and so the church was called "The Beech." This story seems to be authentic and reflects the common practice of the pioneers of worshipping under trees. The location of this tree, if it existed, is no longer remembered, but at any rate the official name of the organization is always "Beech" in the old records. The infant organization did not thrive and by 1870 was down to 16 members. It appeared that the church had no future and the conference leaders decided to omit it from the list of appointments. One of the members, Samuel Todd, walked 30 miles to conference and asked for a preacher for one more year, promising that if they did not prosper, that they would be satisfied to be disbanded. The preacher was sent and there were 23 accessions during the protracted meeting held that year. One of these was William Krieble, who had earlier been converted in a field behind a brush pile. Because of the renewed interest it was decided to build a church house and this was done, probably in the spring of 1871. It was located about ½ mile south of the present location of the Beech Church between the cemetery and the road. The building was of logs and rather crude. The interior was furnished with a pulpit and two chairs, a U-shaped altar rail, two rows of log benches, and a long wood stove in the center of the room. There were large cracks in the floor and walls. Mrs. Catherine Liechty told of one time when a snake came through a crevice and was crawling around on the wall back of the preacher as he was speaking. One of the older members, Sammy Todd, went forward and killed it with his cane and carried it out. The log church was known as the Redbrush Church because of the numerous redbud trees in the vicinity. Traditions disagree as to why the church had two names. One story relates that it was first called "Redbrush," but that the first church was built with beech logs and so they began calling it "The Beech." As stated earlier, the official records seemed to indicate that "Beech" was the earlier name. At the present time "Beech" refers to the present location of the church and "Redbrush" refers to the location of the old log church, one-half mile south. One of the prominent members at this time was Samuel Todd who had been converted at a camp meeting in Ohio when a young man. He often testified: "They had one of those old-fashioned Holy Ghost meetings and sinners all around were trembling and falling under the convicting power of God. Then I wanted to know what there was in religion. If there was any such thing as being converted, I wanted to know it. I attended the meeting. Others were being converted and testified of God’s saving power. I went to the mourner’s bench. I prayed to the Lord to give me light and remove this load of sin. I had often heard it said that you could not get religion by hanging your head over the mourner’s bench; that you must look up to God. I prayed more earnestly than ever. I began to look up and I got happy and began praising the Lord. Then the brethren began to say, Her’s one has got religion. Yes, thank God, I got religion when a young man in the state of Ohio." From this time on the church gradually grew. Two good revivals were held by J. L. Brandenburg with 16 accessions in 1882 and 20 more in 1883. They decided they needed a bigger and better building, so land was bought at the present site in 1882 and a frame church was built which was dedicated by Bishop Kephart May 27, 1883. It had a pulpit, altar rail, kerosene lights, two aisles with hemp runners on the floor. This building is now the main part of the present structure. There were no stained glass windows then, but the door was located where the large north window is now. and the pulpit was at the other end in front of what is now the large south window. The building was then located in the northeast corner of the church lot and the door faced east. At that time it was considered on of the finest church houses in this part of the country. Picture of "FIRST FRAME CHURCH" In those days the church members were regularly examined as to deportment. Card playing, frequenting saloons, getting drunk, going to dances are examples of what was called immoral conduct. For such offenses a committee of usually two persons were appointed to visit the culprit and urge him to amend his ways. In case he would not change, his name was removed from the church roll. This was a time of great change in the community. The people had previously depended upon farming for their living, but with the opening of the Andrew mine in 1880 and the Harrison mine soon after, there was a great influx of people which reached its peak about 1890. One mile north of Beech was Happy Hollow with half-a-dozen houses. Just west of this corner was Red Row with a store and a dozen houses. Just west of Red Row was a school and just west of the school was the village of Woodside (Slabtown) with a store and postoffice and a dozen houses. Here were the Andrew mines and a railroad spur came in from the E.&I. (now New York Central). Across the road from Woodside were three saloons. On west a half mile was Harrison Block with about 18 houses and a store. Then just south of Liechty Cemetery was White Block with half-a-dozen houses. When the coal mines closed, most of these people moved away and the population of this area has declined ever since. The gospel was presented to these people and tremendous revivals were held, especially under the leadership of J. C. Fowler. There were 95 conversions and accessions to the Beech Church in 1890; 62 more in 1891; and 96 more in 1892. These meetings had a profound influence upon the community. Dancing which had been very popular among the mining people was abandoned. The membership of the Church reached 262, an all-time high.