The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1893-07-07
CORNER STONE LAID.
With Impressive Ceremonies the
Presbyterians Formally Conn
mence Their New Church.

C6IeHOul6S.
Monday evening laid the corner stone
of their new house of worship. Dr.
E. ]. Davis had charge of the ceremo-
mics, and at the opening briefly stated
what the gathering at that time was
for. Invocation was pronounced by
Rev. l. Bergstrom, of the Baptist
church, which was followed by hymn
by the choir. This was followed by
the reading of history of the church
from it's start to the present time by
Mr.. Geo. H. Brewster. This history
would be of interest to large portion
of our readers, but on account OF It's
length and our limited space we can
ONLY reproduce few of its most i'm
portant points.
The First Presbyterian church OF
Mankato is the pioneer church OF the
Minnesota valley, and dates back
from 1853, when little colony OF
settlers arrived, among whom was
Mr.. James Hanna, an elder OF the
Presbyterian church of Reynoldsburg,
Ohio, who in June of that year organ
lied the first Sunday school in Man
kato. In the spring OF 1854 Rev.
James Thompson arrived from CraW-
louisville, Ind, and at once began
preaching the gospel, and to organize
Christian work. On August 81, 1850,
the First Presbyterian church OF
Mankato was organized. This was
three years prior to the organization
of the Synod of Minnesota. The mem
beIs at the organization were: Marian
II. Thompson, Juliet Thompson, Mary
Ann Thompson, VIM. H. Thompson,
Amos D. Seward. Pleiades Seward,
Fred Dwight Seward, Henry Schiller,
Jonathan B. Stanley, Nancy Hanna,
Mary Ann Hanna, Sarah j. Hanna,
(now Mrs. John Marsh) Cornelius
Vannice, Susan Vannice. Geo. Q.
Clapp, Marietta Clapp and Sarah
Maxfeld, making "a total of IL, of
whom one-Mrs. John Marsh-is still
connected with the church. Amos ID.
Seward was unanimously elected elder
and renamed the only elder the
church had until February l, 1860,
when three additional elders were
chosen.
In the fall of 1855 the log school
house was completed and for period
of nearly ten years it was used by the
society as a. place of worship. The
first years of the soclety's existence
were prosperous ones and in 1858 it's
membership numbered about forty.
At this time the first attempt was
made to build a,house of worship, but
the financial crisis prevented. Again
in 1861 an attempt was made but met
with. failure.
In January, 1852, Rev. Mr., Thomp-
san closedshis labors with the church.
Up to this time the church had re-
ceiyed no aid from the missionary So
ciety. In the fall of that year the
church came sunder the care of the
missionary .board, and Rev. Marcus
Hicks was sent as pastor. Under him
new prosperity dawned. A lot was
purchased and the foundation for |
building was laid. But in 1868 Mr..
Hicks health failed and in November |
he was compelled to give up his work |
and return to his eastern home. The |
winter months following were dark |
and discouraging to the church.
During this time there was neither
regular church service, prayer meet
ing nor Sunday school.
In May, 1864, Rev. A. G. .Rullifson,
Synodical missionary, visited the |
field and gave the society great en-
couragement. Aid was promised, the |
church raised what funds it could and |
from various sources help came. In |
Decemberiof that year Rev. Thomas
Marshall came as pastor and brought |
with him Christmas gift of 1000 |
from the Madison Square church,
New ork, to help pay for the church |
building.
The building was completed in 1865,
and dedicated in September of that |
year. At that same date Rev. Thos.
Marshall was also installed as regular
pastor. The church at that time be-
came self-supporting and received no
further, aid from the Missionary So
ciety. Rev. Mr.. Marshall's pastorate
continued until May, 1869. during
which time ninety were received into
the church on confession of faith |
and one hundred and two on certifi-
cate.
In October, 1869, Rev. Joseph Little
became pastor of the church. The |
pastors salary was increased and the
church cleared of debt the first year.
Under his pastorate the church grew
rapidly, new members being taken in
at nearly every communion, with the |
exception of the year 1874, when no
new members were taken into the
church upon confession of faith, the |
1u in hn II icfn