McDonough ILGenWeb

The First Baptist church, of Sciota, was organized February 16, 1870, at a meeting held in the Christian church, by J. L. Benedict, D. D. The first members of the organization were J. M. Forrest and wife, Misses L. E. and T. E. Forrest, James Russell and wife, Mary Buckhart, John Seybold, and R. N. Henderson. The first regular pastor was Rev. Joseph Delano, and A. M. Newton was the first clerk of the church. Meetings were held in the Christian church until a church edifice of their own was erected, which was in 1871. It is a good, plain church structure, about 30x40 feet, with a well proportioned spire rising from the center of the front, which contains a good-toned, ordinary-sized bell. The building cost $1,950. The present membership is about 90, and the contributions are about $700 per annum. The first sermon preached by a Baptist minister on Sciota, was by Elder Sutton, in the year 1868. The succession of pastors to the pulpit of this church, are J. M. Harrington, G. T. Calvin, James Rone, J. E. Todd, R. C. Ray, and Jacob Cornelius, the latter serving as pastor at present. There is also a Sunday school in connection with the church.

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Source: The History of McDonough County, together with sketches of the towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent individuals, and biographies of the representative citizens, 1885, pages 467-468. Transcribed by Karl A. Petersen