The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1903-09-24

flower stand and a communion table.
The Ladies' Aid society bought the
pulpit furniture.
The church financial statement is as
follows: The sum of So, 1880 was col
lected in cash before dedication. Out
OF this $500 was paid for the lot. The
sum of So, 800 borrowed from bank to
pay for labor and material is unpaid.
Out of this is deducted $1,000, the value
of the old church property, leaving an
Indebtedness of 81, 300. The brick used
in the church cost or were worth 81, 800.
This would make the church, less lot,
cost to the present time $7,289.6O. It
will require about 1000 more to COM
plete the building.
CHURCH HISTORY.
A Brief History of the Princeton Nj. E
Church and the Story of Its Growth.
What is now the northern Minnesota
conference of the M. E. church was
or rather was in that conference in
1914 which included all the settlements
of the Mississippi river valley above
Lake Pepin. In this conference was
the st. Croix River mission, and Rev.
Joseph Hurlburt was appointed to this
mission. But the M. E. church had be-
gun work among the Indians of the up
per Mississippi as early as 1885, and
Rev. Alfred Brunson was the first one
engaged in this work for the M. E.
church. 1t was twelve years after the
Rock River conference sent Rev. Hurl-
burt into his wild field of labor that the
first Minnesota conference was held
which convened at Red Wing August
III, 1856, and Bishop Matthew Simp-
son presided. Then Princeton was one
of the few places that constituted the
outre mere of civilization in northern
Minnesota, and civilization was of a
very rough character in those days. A
year after the first Minnesota confer
ence the Monticello district was formed
and Rev. S. T. Sterrit was the presid-
ing elder. This district had for it's
boundaries Minneapolis on the south,
Belle Prairie on the north, Princeton
on the east, and as far west as the pre-
siding elder could do any work. To-
day Princeton instead of being the
eastern limit of wide missionary field
of Methodism is located in the extreme
southern limit of the Duluth district of
the Northern Minnesota conference,
which contains 1877 churches and has
$4,000 members and it's rapidly growing
field includes prosperous cities and vii
lagos as far north as the international
boundary where the northern Minne-
sofa pioneer is face to face with his
Canadian cousins.
Rev. Gratz in his sketch of the
Princeton M. E. church which was
read at the laying of the corner stone
of this church last April says:
''In 1856 we have the first record of
an official visit of a presiding elder to
Princeton. It is quite probable that
Rev. B. Christ visited and preached at
Princeton before this as he travelled
much over this section of Minnesota,
though I have found no record of this
fact. The presiding elder writes: AT
Princeton, Brother William Durham
and Brother Thomas Goulding consti-
tuted the official board. Brother Dun
ham was class-leader, steward and ex-
horter.'
"a letter that I received from Rev.
John Hooper who was the first preacher
in charge here and who now lives at
Minneapolis, fits in just here and is of
interest. Under date of November
18th, 1902, he says: My own records of
that time have been lost: hence what
write will have to be mostly from men,
DRY. My appointment to Princeton
was in the spring of 1858 and I think
this was the first time it stood on the
list OF appointments. If so I was the
first to the appointment-not the first
to preach there for others had been
there and organized a class: (who I can
not say as well as I can remember of
about twenty members. The appoint
ment was called Princeton Mission
with fifty dollars apportionment.
There was neither church nor parson-
age when I went there. Our services
were held in the school house on the
east side: but before winter closed in,
we had both church and parsonage and
that winter assisted by Brother S. O.
we had glorious revival. In
connection with Princeton I had four
other preaching places, West Branch
at Mr.. Perkins house: Battle Brook,
Spencer Brook and Trout Brook. But
in Princeton was the only organized
society. I was at Princeton two con-
ference Years Nv nraci1ipr o11or 1roc