Harrisonville Church, Scipio Twp., Meigs Co., Ohio
Left Photo: Taken abt. 1880
Right Photo: Taken 2000
This little church in Harrisonville, Ohio is a special place for me. It's the church my ancestors and others formed in the 1820's. At first they met in their homes and later in a log church. They were there too when the first plank board church was built.
I have been fortunate to have found clippings and diaries of my ancestors who attended this church which reveals some of church's history.
Mary Wells Bradfield's, wife of Zachariah Bradfield, obituary of 1872 states: "She has been an acceptable member of the Methodist church for three-quarters of a century."
From a copy of a clipping regarding a letter sent by Grace White to the Leader, a Pomeroy Newspaper, Jan 19, 1907 ..... Robert Turner and his wife were among the most devout pioneer Methodists. When the first church in this place [Harrisonville] was built near where the house of Wm. Cray now stands [1907]. Aunt Betty [Elizabeth Bradfield Turner wife of Robert E. Turner] , on horseback, solicited feathers with which to buy glass for the windows of the church. She also spun, wove and assisted in making a suit of clothes for the minister, Uncle Jimmy Hopkins. This she made a present to him. Uncle Robert [Turner] was our honored class leader as long as he lived.
From the obituary of Robert E. Turner appearing in a Meigs Co. newspaper April 1886.................. "Indeed the whole community feel that they have sustained a loss, for he was one of the best men and best Christians to be found in any community. He was a leading member of the M. E. Church for 68 years, and was appointed class Leader at the early age of seventeen."
In 1868 they built the building you see in the photo on the left.
My father, his father and mother plus all of her ancestors attended this church. Going back in time you will find her Turners, Wells, Bradfields and Gotschalls were among those first members.
When it came time to build the present building and all future additions plus changes made to the church over the years my Gotschalls, Turners, Wells and Bradfields were right there with hammers and saws in hand. The timber used for the church built in 1868 came from their land and was brought to the building site by teams of oxen.
My grandmother, Oleva Gotschall Cotterill, played the piano here for nearly 50 years. I can still see her wearing her "Sunday go meeting" hat and sitting at the piano playing and singing. Today my cousin's, James Cotterill, wife, Rebecca Kay Windon Cotterill, plays the piano for all the services.
When the church was first formed, it was a Methodist Church and continued so for over 150 years. Over the past 30 years due to being in a small country side community the attendance dwindled and new members have been far and few. For a while it became a Community Church and shared a minister with three other country side churches in the area. They only had services once a month in Harrisonville. About 20 years ago it became a Presbyterian Church and began weekly services once again.
All my ancestor's baptisms, marriages and funerals took place in this before burials in the near by cemeteries of Shipman, Wells and French.
In 2005 a social hall was added to the west and north side of the church and again my Cotterills were involved in the organizing and planning this addition. By this time the direct lines of my Turners had moved or passed ways, no Gotschalls in the area at all, a few Bradfield descendants are still in the area and as far as I know there are no Wells living. However the Cotterill line strongly lives on.
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