My appologies for the way the first part came out. The procedure during the services were somewhat different than now. During the protracted meetings, a different person would be chosen to lead each night. He would announce a song and after the song call on someone to pray; then another song and another prayer and so on. After several songs and prayers the preacher would preach. There was an Amen corner in which men sat and supported the preacher during the sermon. Susan Harris was a personal worker; she would talk to those who had no testimony and won many souls. The minister stayed at the John W. Andrew home while holding the protracted meeting. The Andrew family had a room set apart for the use of the ministers when holding revivals and quarterly conferences. Often there was shouting. The "shouters" included Fred Liechty, Mrs. Addie Andrews, Mrs. Susan Harris, Mrs. Ann Reynolds, Mrs. John Havercamp, William Leohr, William Schafer, William Krieble and many others. William Krieble would be down on his knees; he would bring his hands together, cry out "Hallelujah," and come up shouting. One time Susan Harris and Susan Funk were shouting and running around the central pews in the church when the church started rocking and the stovepipe fell down. Despite the fact that soot was scattered all over the church, there was not the least distraction to the meeting. However, some of the members met the next day and cleaned the church. A favorite song of Susan Harris was "Roll the Old Chariot Along," Several members of the Beech Church were licensed to preach. These included William Krieble, Sam Neal, Thomas Foxworthy, Adam Markley, George Miller, and much later, Walter Bond, Glen Charles Bond, and Bernard Stephens. William Krieble, an Annual Conference minister, served as minister of the Mill Creek Circuit in 1884-1885, for which he received $30 in salary and a chunk of sowbelly for his year’s work. He was always ready to put the needs of others before his own, and, no matter how busy, he would always go when called upon, sometimes being gone two days. He was often at the bedside of the dying, endeavoring to point them to the Risen Lord. Adam D. Markley (1849-1914) was a Class Leader at Beech for many years before he became a traveling minister in 1890. From this time on he and his wife Sarah, the daughter of John and Susan Funk, were in full time service until his death in 1914. He was ordained in 1894 and became a minister of the White River Conference when the Lower Wabash Conference was disbanded. He added nearly 800 members to the church during his pastorates. The Liechty Evangelical Church once stood two miles northwest of Beech, just south of the Liechty Cemetery. When it disbanded in 1904, Jesse and Catherine Liechty transferred their memberships to Beech, where their victorious testimonies have been a great blessing to many. The Evangelical denomination united with the United Brethren in 1946 to form the Evangelical United Brethren Church. One year when P. F. Fouts was pastor he was sick and could not hold the meeting, so his nephew, Rev. Elmer B. Catt, held it. Some consider it as the greatest revival ever held at Beech. It is remembered not so much for the number of seekers, as for the soul-searching and the spiritual victories of those who attended. Picture of REMODELED CHURCH-1915 In 1915 an addition was built on the church. A room was built on the south (now east) side of the church, also a bell tower with vestibule and a concrete foundation, and three large stained glass windows were installed. "There are," reported the Clay City News, "three art glass windows, a beautiful metallic ceiling, the walls are decorated with a select design of oatmeal paper, the choir box, pulpit and front have been treated to a beautiful brussels carpet, also the aisles with suitable aisle matting." The weekend of the dedication was crowded with events. Dr. W. E. Snyder, Conference Superintendent, of New Albany, held the Quarterly Conference of the Coal City Circuit at Beech on Saturday night at 7:30, followed by preaching at 8:30, as the custom then was. On the next day, the day of dedication, August 15, 1915, Sunday School was held at 9:30 and 210 present. By 10:45 the entire seating capacity of the building was taken and Rev. Snyder preached on the subject, "A Model Church." At noon the people spread their dinners in the grove and enjoyed a pleasant social hour. The afternoon audience far overtaxed the seating capacity of the house, and was estimated from 900 to 1,000 people. A service of song, prayer and praise was held, following which Dr. Snyder spoke and impressively dedicated the house anew to the worship of God. A baptismal service was then held in a nearby creek. There was Christian Endeavor at 6:30 that night, followed by prayer meeting, while the pastor and Conference Superintendent held services at Coal City. The total cost was $1405.93 of which $930 had been provided and the balance with a small margin was raised on the day of dedication, making it debt free. W. H. Todd was pastor, William Leohr, Sunday School Superintendent and William Krieble, Class Leader. The trustees were William Krieble, president; J. W. Andrew, secretary and treasurer; Henry Reynolds, Jesse Liechty and J. J. Summerlot. These five men served together for many years and were highly respected both for their love for the church and the Lord and for their ability in handling the affairs of the church. Picture of FIVE TRUSTEES WHEN PARSONAGE WAS BUILT Henry Reynolds, John Summerlot, John Andrew, William Krieble, Jesse Liechty In 1918, while B. S. McNeely was pastor, Beech became a station. Up until this time it had always been on a cirbuit with other churches. At first it was on the Lancaster Circuit, then from 1872 till 1889 it was on the Middlebury Circuit. This was made up of five churches: Middlebury, Beech, Mt. Zion, Daggett (now Coal City), and Johnstown. In 1890 Beech was placed on the Mt. Zion Circuit with four other churches: Mt. Zion, Otterbein, Daggett and Johnstown. The circuits were not necessarily the same year after year, but were often changed about by the Annual Conference. Mt. Zion, where the parsonage was located, was then a strong church located four miles northwest of Beech. In 1900 Beech was taken from the Lower Wabash Conference and placed in the Indiana Conference. Thereafter its associations were with Coal City (where the parsonage was located), Middlebury and Mt. Calvary. When Beech became a station, a parsonage was needed, so additional land was bought west of the church from John Andrew. This makes up the present property. A log house had once stood where the present parsonage stands, but it had burned, and a small frame house which stood where the church building is now located had been moved to the present parsonage site. It was remodeled and added to and became the present parsonage at this time. Rebecca Margaret Lloyd gave so much (said to have been $500) that Reverend McNeely had a memorial stone picture of BEECH PARSONAGE placed in the southwest corner of the parsonage. In 1922 Rev. S. L. Todd described the parsonage as being "a six-room bungalow with large front Veranda and back porch, with cellar, cistern, well, concrete walks, water and sink in kitchen; double garage, coal house, large chicken house and barn and all necessary fences." During McNeely’s ministry the attendance at the evening services on Sunday were especially large, filling the building and requiring ushers to help the people find seats. This was probably the largest evening services in the history of the church. In 1920 the average attendance at Sunday School was 100; in 1921, 44 conversions were reported for the year and an average attendance in Sunday School of 144. In 1918 Walter and Glen Charles Bond received Annual Conference licenses to preach. Walter soon turned to medicine, but Glen spent the rest of his life in the ministry. He and his wife, Ruth Liechty Bond, served eleven charges in Indiana Conference. In 1949 he entered the evangelistic field in which he was gifted. As he concluded his sermon on the first night of a revival on March 6, 1950, he turned to the pastor and said, "I am ready to go; I’d rather die in the harness than rust out." Their brother, John, is a most inspiring lay preacher. Rev. Bernard Stephens and his wife, Flora Rea Stephens, served in the ministry of Indiana Conference from 1924 to 1930. From about 1905 till about 1932 the church had a picnic every year on the Fourth of July. This was first held in Andrew’s woods south of the cemetery, but later was held in Andrew’s grove on-fourth mile east of the church. The children of the community looked forward to this occasion from year to year and saved their money to spend it there. Lemonade was sold but no bottled drinks of any kind, were tolerated. Oddly enough, cigars and chewing tobacco were always on sale, and, after the church voted to stop the sale of tobacco, there was so much dissension that the picnics were discontinued. It might be added that while no one who uses tobacco is allowed to be a minister in the Evangelical United Brethren Church today, many of the old ministers used it and some of them won many souls. One of the treasures of the Beech Church is the picture at the front of the sanctuary painted in 1932 by Will Wright, the son of Hamilton and Peula Wright, who loved two houses north of the church. It is based upon Peter Biermann’s interpretation of the Ascension. When J. W. Settle was pastor at Beech, he happened to remark to Mrs. Catherine Liechty that if he had the records he would write a history of the Beech Church. The Church is much indebted to Mrs. Liechty for finding and securing the old Beech membership records; one she found at the Coal City parsonage and another at Hammond, Indiana. Reverend Settle was not able to write the history; he died in 1937 while serving as pastor at Beech. Rev. J. A. Fields liked the community so much that he elected to live here after retiring from the ministry. He also induced his son, Herbert, to move here. Notable property improvements were made while Harold Underwood was pastor. In 1947 new pews were bought and the floors were refinished at a cost of $2,900.00 Two years later, in 1949, the church was moved back away from its site on the corner and turned on-fourth around so that the former east side faced north. George Rea, superintendent of the Maumee Coal Company, sent a dragline which dug the basement. The Indiana Conference News Bulletin reported: "July 10 was a day of victory for the Beech Church and community as the church was formally reopened on the new site and foundation. The church has been moved back on the present lot and turned to face the road at the cross roads. It was put back on the present lot and turned to face the road at the cross roads. It was put on a new foundation with a full basement, and completely decorated decorated within. The cost of the total project in cash was $5829, all of which has been raised and paid at the time of redidication . . . They had a fellowship dinner in the basement at the noon hour. The afternoon services were well attended with about 250 people present from the neighboring churches and community. It is a day which will long be remembered by the people of the church. The Beech Church is making great progress and is now one of our most outstanding rural churches." The trustees were Henry Wilkinson, president; Irvin Summerlot, Arthur Kelley, Raymond Kelley, William Miller, Wallace Wolfe and Thomas Andrew. When Robert Gehlbach was pastor in October of 1951, stained glass windows were installed at a cost of $1300, and window sashes for $1600, several improvements were made on the parsonage, in August ’52, a contract was let for a basement for $1150; in December ’52, a furnace was bought and in August ’53, a bathroom and water heater. In 1955, under the pastorate of Leonard Wood, $1200 was spent for curtains and other improvements in the church basement, $75 for a fence at the parsonage and a new piano was bought on October 9. The parsonage garage was built while John Flockhart was pastor, and in January 1957 rest rooms for the church were installed. In June 1959 the church furnished paint and Rev. Flockhart put it on. The ground was leveled and sowed in grass between the parsonage and the church. Picture of PRESENT BEECH CHURCH On October 30, 1960, under the pastorate of Ivan Steed it was voted to buy an organ and speaker. The total cost being $1533.43. In April of 1963 additional folding doors were put in the basement costing $238. Indirect lighting was installed and the sanctuary redecorated, the Youth Fellowship painting the basement and benches, also a stoker was added to the furnace. Under the pastorate of Edgar Walls, in June ’67 a new roof was put on the parsonage, drinking water was put in the church from the parsonage deep well. There has been a continuing program of improvement of the church properties.