Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1951-01-04

Clarence E. Kirby, and Linwood
Hammond"
This ends Miss Merriwether's
history and Miss Ella Plummer
brings the story up to date.
81 would like to call attention
to the front chandler, which was
bought and installed when this
church was built in 1870 The
back chandelier came from the sec
ond church, l was told by Miss
Annie Merriweather, who Joined
the church when she was sixteen
and died at the rich age of 81 on
October q, 1885. The balcony is or
was reached from the outside, and
has a folding door, which l have
never seen anywhere else. The
bottom step is concave to allow the
door to be pushed in and folded.
''In looking over some Sunday
School records about the time of
the Civil War, this note was made
by the superintendent, "a small
attendance, the boys are in the
cherry trees and refuse to come
down." (There must have been
some naughty boys in that day
too.)
81 have told you of the original
deed for the church property given
in 1870. / have the original sur
vey of the church property and
the cemetery which was made in
1872, showing the church property
as one acre and the cemetery p
acre. l have either the original or
copies of all papers recorded in
Rockville Court House relative to
"Old Goshen.
MANY people can tell stories of
the olden times and the church;
Of ghosts, such as when passing
the church at night, and the
horses refused to. move. When in
fear and trembling, one got out
to investigate, there was only an
old COW lying across the road TAX
ing a rest; of the slaves gallery
where colored people used to sit,
filing down from it to take COM
munion at the table the white folk
had used.
From this same balcony at
night meeting when the lamps
were lit, there dropped long
black-snake, hitting the lap of one
of the ladies' much to her con-
A sternation, and then slipping to
the floor. ~ a'
l rather believe it had been
placed there by some mischieveous
boys, surely it never reached that
high abode by itself! 4
The names familiar to ""Old'
Goshen" can run nearly the Whole
alphabet, some of them being AIS
mutt, Balthis, Bowman, Butcher,
Benson, Cooke, Carter, Clagett,
Crawford, Dorsey, Davis, EggFes-
ton, Gartner, Greeni mGaither,
Griffith, Higgins, Haihes, Harmon,
Jones, Kinsey, Kephart, Linth-
icum Martin, Magrdder, Moore,
\ Monkey, Meriweather, Nelson,
Pope, Plummer, Humphrey, Pugh,
Riggs, Stewart, Supp, Thompson,
Waters, Watson, White, Williams.
Warfield, Walker, Wightman.
"The membership of Goshen
was greatly decreased through the
years by removals and deaths.
When the northern and southern
Methodists, who had separated
during the Civil War, decided to
unite with the Protestant Metho-
dists, it seemed more logical to
keep the church activities in the
village, and so now Laytonsville
charge serves that need in this
community. When this was done
the property was decided to the
Trustees of the church and not to
the Conference. The church prop
erty and the cemetery were in
corporated. The present trustees
are Samuel Riggs, George Plum
mer, Nathan White, Mrs. Maude
S. Cooke, Mrs. Lee Warfeld, Miss
Maude Dorsey, and Miss Ella R.
Plummer.
VI am sure | voice the senti-
ments of the trustees and the
friends of "Old Goshen, many of
whom l see present today, when
l offer you our sincere wishes and
prayers for your success in carry,
ing on the work of the Heavenly
Father in the use of our Church
property"
And so ends the history of
Goshen Church as read by Miss
Ella Plummer on December, 10,
1850 when the old church was re-
dedicated under the auspices of
the Eastern Mennonite Board of
Missions and Charities to whom it
had been leased for a five year
period with the privilege of re-
newal of lease. The only consid-
Grafton was the upkeep of both
church and cemetery.