The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1900-11-06

j. NJ Goshorn and wife. No select
school has ever yet attained the popu-
,arity and patronage of said school and
all good citizens regretted when IT
ceased to exist. Rev. j. NJ. Goshorn
resided most of the time while con-
Quoting the female seminary in the obi
Cribs house, which is the two-story
brick on the northwest corner OF Cleve-.
land avenue and Fifth street, now own
ed and occupied by DR.. Phillips, and In
this place was the boarding house for
many of the young ladies who came
to obtain an education.
A parsonage had been built in the
early occupancy of this block of lots
on the northeast corner of the block,
corner of Eighth and Dewalt street.
1t was afterwards occupied for years
by the late William Barber and family.
Additions have since been put to 1t so
that the original appearance has been
| changed, but the house was never taken
down or removed.
I must not omit to say that a fourth
building stood on the back of the middle
| lot, facing on Ninth. Said house was
| quite small, not oyer eight or nine
| feet wide and Is or 20 feet long. r.
was for long time the snug and happy
| little home of their sexton, James
Armstrong and his wife, Nancy. They
were colored people and the embodl-
ment of good nature, and quite active
in the services of the church as well
as to be careful of the house and prem
ises They never had any children
| The familiar name in town of the
| husband was BLACK Jim," and of his
| wife. Aunt Nancy" He was above the
| average size of man and his wife was
| rather small In times of protracted
| meetings the voice of "Black Jim"
| could often be heard above all the
| others. They finally moved to M.
Union and there died. They had many
| friends.
| John McCurdy and wife, and Fred
erick Hafer and wife were among the
old and faithful workers, but not the
| leaders, as some others, and in later
days David II. Harmon and wife and
Peter Hugus and wife were very active
workers, and always with the advance
| guard.
Upon the opening of the female
seminary by Rev. Goshorn, the corr
| gregation began to feel that they
should no longer be kept on a circuit,
but have regular and stated pastor,
and their request was soon granted
and their first settled pastor for all
| time services was Rev. Edward Burk-
| EFT. But 1t soon became manifest that
they could not pay a stated pas
tor for his whole time, and they We're
therefore compelled again to be put on
| n w
Greentown. Hartvlle, Bethlehem,
Sparta and Miller's church in Pike
township. The ministers that came
after the pastorate of Rev. Burkett an ]
kept up the circuit were Revs. White,
Hare, Cramer. Baker, McCue. Swaney,
McAbee, Jackson and Scott, and thinl,
a few other names which I he re not
been able to obtain. About 1910, Rev.
McCue was carried away with doctrines
of Millerlsm or second adventism, but
the church never was affected thereby
Then as now there were isms to lead
some away from plain christian duty.
At the time of the opening Of the
Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago rail-
road in lS51-52, introduced IN our midst
e. Ball. c. Au.tman and the Millers
which gave the town D new impetus,
and the NJ. =. church at once took !,
higher stand In the omllunity than
ever before, and very soon thereo tier
| they bad a regular stated preacher
every Sabbath, AMI tha: closed fer all
time the circuit system with the Canton
church.
The old frame church which appears
in our illustration was soon found to
be too small and very much out of date,
and in 1862 very fine brick edifice was
erected on the corner of Tuscarawas
street and Cleveland avenue, having
class rooms, Sabbath school rooms, etc
This new house was a wonderful i'm
provement over the old, and they grew
and prospered in every way until Janu-
ary, 1881, when about to observe com,
munion services on the first Sabbath
of the year, the house was found to be
on fire. Rev. Hiram Miller, then pas.
. tor, was very calm. and a man of ex.
! cellent judgement, and managed to get
: the congregation out without a panic
. but the house was destroyed. The,
afterward built their present fine ston,
house Of worship on the same site o.
: the one destroyed. Several churche!
of other denominations rendered then
! their houses Of worship, but it wa!
/. deemed best to hire hall in the Mont
tor block, where Mr.. Theobold now ha'
lis plumbing establishment. and ther
they remained until the present churc!
edifice was completed.
} Their history from that time to tn
: present has been one Of growth an,
prosperity. Several new interests hav
been started and prospered, while tn
old original M. e. church in Cantor
is one OF the strongest in the city. blu
time and space will not permit detail
. lalong these lines.