THE CHRONICLE
Journal of the Historical Society
of the
Susquehanna Conference
of the
United
Milton W. Loyer
Editor
Volume XXII
spring 2011
_________________________________________________________________________
Editor's Preface
.......................................................................................................2
The Evangelical Church
in Northeast Pennsylvania
...
3
compiled
from the conference archives, 2011
The Methodist Protestant Church in Northeast Pennsylvania.
..12
The Final
Fifteen
..
..
.
.13
by Milton Loyer, 2011
A
Resume and Decision on the Claim for Preachers Aid Funds
.
..
.20
by Francis T. Tagg and George R. Brown, 1910
A Letter from the South Canaan MP Church
.
..24
by John F. Lennon, 1915
The Methodist Episcopal Church in Northeast Pennsylvania.
..
..
...26
The Wyoming
Conferences Pennsylvania Boundaries
..
..27
compiled from the conference archives, 2011
Elisha Butler
.
.....31
from the East Baltimore Conference
records, 1859
Our Years in Northeast Pennsylvania
..57
by
Thelma Proof, 1970
Developing the Eastern Urban
Areas
.............
68
The Commencement of Methodism in Dauphin County
...
..69
by Richard Nolen, 1873
The Colonial Park Church
...85
by Bruce Souders,
1962
The
Scranton Areas Forgotten Methodist Churches
......
..91
compiled from the
conference archives, 2011
EDITOR'S PREFACE
On behalf of the Historical Society of the Susquehanna Conference of the United Methodist Church, I present volume XXII of The Chronicle. For over twenty years, the society has produced a mix of scholarly, entertaining, informative and inspiring stories of United Methodism all united by a common theme. This volume continues that tradition.
This years unifying theme "The Eastern Edge welcomes our Pennsylvania brothers and sisters from the former Wyoming Conference to The Chronicle by presenting stories relating to the eastern edge of the Susquehanna Conference, including much material relating specifically to the former Wyoming Conference. The articles are clustered into four sections.
The section titled The Evangelical Church in Northeast Pennsylvania summarizes the histories contained in the conference archives for the former Evangelical congregations known to have owned a church building within the Pennsylvania area of the Wyoming Conference.
The section titled The Methodist Protestant Church in Northeast Pennsylvania is a series of three articles concentrating on the 15 former Methodist Protestant congregations in northeast Pennsylvania that survived until the 1939 re-union of that denomination with its Methodist Episcopal relatives to form the Methodist Church.
The section titled The Methodist Episcopal Church in Northeast Pennsylvania is a series of three articles about that denominations trials and tribulations in that part of the state the trials and tribulations of congregations on the boundary of the former Wyoming Conference, the trial (literally) of a Methodist Episcopal preacher in Luzerne County, and the trials (figuratively) of a young pastors wife beginning her parsonage life in Bradford and Susquehanna Counties.
This years volume of The Chronicle concludes with a section titled Developing the Eastern Urban Areas that is a series of three articles involving cities on the eastern edge of the conference a first-hand account from 1873 of the Methodist beginnings in Dauphin County and Harrisburg, the story of the United Brethren efforts to minister in the Harrisburg suburbs in general and in Colonial Park in particular, and a look at some former Scranton area Methodist churches whose stories, through a variety of circumstances, were all but lost.
These articles represent a wide variety of perspectives. They cover all the members of the United Methodist family: the Evangelical Association, the United Evangelical Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Protestant Church, the Methodist Church (both the 1858-1877 version and the 1939-1968 version), and the United Brethren Church. Some were written as early as 1859 and others as recently as this year. They were composed by pastors, laypeople, historians, and church dignitaries. May they prove to be a blessing and an encouragement to each reader.