Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-10-11

ing in the chapel" The next day Asbury
started off for Baltimore and says he
'called at DR. Magaws and we parted
ih great affection.
Frceborn Garrettson IN his auto
biography saws: The Lord gave us great
favor in the sight of DIR. Magaw, minister
of the church, and he proved n great
blessing to the cause of Methodism.
And as further proof of the kindness and
lberality of DIR. Magaw. who, in 1891,
became rector of St Paul's Episcopal
Church in Philadelphia, he invited DR..
Thomas Coke to preach IN his (Aiagaw 81
church in Philadelphia, and this DIR. Coke
did on the first Sunday after his arrival
ih America.
| have cited these friendly acts Of DR..
Nagaw toward the Methodist people,
and his kindly intimacy with Asbury, and
his brother itinerants. as showing the pos
sibility that the Forest or st. Paul's
Chapel Of the Episcopal Church, first
mentioned in 1865 might have become
the Methodist Chapel first mentioned IN
I've If they We're separate sites and
SEPARATED buildings, it seems a little
81 range that | can find no trace of the
st Paul's Chapel since the establishment
Of the Forest or Thomas Chapel in 1879.
Abel Stevens, whose History of Method
i4m is an authority, and who wrote care
fully and after thorough research, says:
'1ln 1879 a chapel was erected, and opened
fbr worship by DIR. Magaw and called
Forest Chapel and afterwards Thomas,
the first meeting house the Mcthodlsts
h hd in the State" In this. as YOU will
Mote, there is no suggestion that Thomas
Chapel was merged or combined with the
St Paul's Chapel.
FIRST METHODIST MEETING HOUSE.
The site where We are assembled today
Isl undoubtedly. the site of the first
meeting house or preaching place built
f9r the use of the people called MethodIsts
III the State of Delaware. Barratt's
Chapel came second in 1890, followed in
lFSl by Browns Chapel, in Seaford
hI IIndred Sussex county, and IN l7S2, by
Whites Chapel, near Whitelaysburg, IN
this county.
The frst name given TO the meeting
hbuse erected on this site was Forest
Chapel About that time, say from 1850
t5 1890, the country hereabouts was a
veritable forest, thick growth OF timber,
with here and there patches of a few
acres Of cleared land, on which were raised
the crops upon which the scattered: in
hhbitants subsisted. Rev, Charles lngllS,
ohe of the early Episcopal missionaries In
rbporting to his society IN 1889 SAYS
There are IN this county (kent) hun
dFeds of people who InhabIt the large
forests which lie between Dover and
NIarvland and on the vast marshes which
stretch along the River Delaware, who
hhve never heard a sermon and do not
bblong to any religious denomination.
There were at that early date about
7I000 people IN the county, with three
Episcopal churches, three Quaker meeting
houses and four Presbyterian meeting
houses. 1t was claimed that the Episco-
phlians represented about one-thlrd of
the religious population and that the
firesbvterians were at that tune the
strongest and most numerous religious
bbdv In the county and State.
Scharf's history of Delaware Is authority
fdr the statement that q tract OF $50 acres
OF land called 'Penelope's Advantage,
VI as taken up by Penelope Freeman In
IE45. That she afterwards married
Martin or Owen Irons, and that IN 1879
she decided one-half acre TO WIllIam
Thomas. who, in turn the same year,
conveyed the half acre to the trustees OF
this chapel.
The original structure built here was
rude in construction, and being built of
dgs was sometimes spoken of as the Log
Church The logs were dovetailed to-
gkther, it being claimed that there were
b nails in it. 1t IS said that the pulpit /
Was a large stump sawed square on the /
tdp, and set up evenly upon its roots. /
This original church was 18x20 feet,
about half the size Of the present building /
1t was used for nearly 20 years, being |
r4moved in 1898, and in its place was
b uilt frame church, which, tradition
SAYS, was dedicated by Freeborn Garrett
SON. In the new frame church there was a |
high pulpit with spiral stairway, and
GALLERY for the use of colored people, and
it is said that the classrneetings held by
t be colored people in the gallery were
frequently more largely attended by white
than colored people, This frame church
served the church people for 27 years,
Until 1925, when brick church was built
a stone with that date is still IN the walls
The bricks with which the church Of 1872 j