The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-12-26
BYGONE METHODIST DAYS.
"reminiscences of When Three Sccts Wor'
shipped in One Church.

"Reminiscences vi w HSh lHiSS oSSiS 'p'-
shipped in One Church.
The recent celebration by the Elm
Park congregation of the first ami
versary of the dedication of its present
magnificent edifice, suggests some in
teresting "reminiscences of the early To-
cal and ordained preachers of the first
Methodist society in Scranton.
Few men are better qualified to speak
of bygone Methodsm than Joseph S.
Mann, an old resident of Scranton and
an engineer in the Lackawanna car
riage works. His recolleotions are
strengthened by the fact that his father
also was an old resident of the city and
a pioneer Methodist whose fund of
prior information makes the later
knowledge of the son all the more
pertinent. To a Tribune reporter Mr..
Mann said:
1T Is generally understood that Rev.
A. H. Schoonmaker was the first Meth
odist preacher in Scranton; this is cor
rect only in the sense that he was the
first ordained preacher who officiated
in the church built in 1855 on Adams
avenue.
"A Rev. Reddington was the pioneer
Methodist preacher who was ION the
circuit" and visited Scranton every
three or four weeks. During the inter-
walls Elder Mott, Baptist, and Rev. DR..
n. G. Parke, now Of Pittston, Presby-
terian, occupied the pulpit. John
Mulkey then preached for awhile and
after he left the city, then "Slocum
Hollow" Adam l.. Horn and Noah
Davis ordained local preachers, were
wont to show the small congregation
the ways of rectitude and wisdom. The
now Bible agent, Rev. Mr.. Kennedy,
of Waverly, preached for time, but
became afflicted with throat trouble
and was sent an assistant by the name
of Cargell. Then came a Mr.. Browns
comb, and after him Charles Perkins.
Now, Rev. o. II. Schoonmaker,
whom mentioned before, had been liv
ing in Providence, but, after Mr. Per-
kins left, removed to the fats, where
he occupied the house of David Major.
During his term the first parsonage
was built.
MY father, mother, grandmother
and an aunt, who is now living with
me, came to Scranton, oct. ), 1S47, and
on the second Sunday after their ar
rival Oct. II, were received into the
church by Mr.. Mulkey. Each was pos
sessed of a transfer letter from the
church in their former home, Oxford
Furnace, n. j. l recollect many Of the
faces seen in church those days; some
of the names l will never forget, while
others | remember only in fancy.
I'VE held Sunday school in the old
odd Fellows hall, which then stood on
knoll where the modern store of the
Lackawanna Iron and Steel company
is now located. Methodist, Baptist and
Presbyterian mingled in those good old
church days and worshipped together
in little wooden structure at the
corner of Lackawanna and Adams ave-
nues. The building was high above
the roadway and was approached
by two stairways of fourteen or
fifteen steps each. A hallway eX-
tended completely across the front Of
the building with a small door at either
end of the hall leading into the body of
the church. 1t was then the custom
for the women to enter the eastern door
and the men the western door.
without intending to crltlclse the
church customs of the present day, 1
must say like better the simple fervor
and honest worship of bygone Method
ism. when men and women put aside all
pomp and vanity for devout praise and
prayer"