First Methodist Church
at
Alexandria Bay, N. Y.

2 - D a y   J u b i l e e

Unidentified clipping - probably dated December 10, 1938

Alexandria Bay, Dec. 10. -- The 64 ? (unclear) year-old, lofty steepled First Methodist church in this village opened a two-day jubilee celebration Friday evening with a sumptuous beef supper in the dining hall followed by a varied program in the church parlors. The program will continue on Sunday.

A chilly December rain followed by heavy fog during the evening failed to interfere with the attendance at the gathering. Some 130 residents of this village and surrounding communities attended the supper and more than 200 filled the church auditorium to capacity for the evening meeting.

The church is celebrating the payment of the $3,300 indebtedness which has stood since 1928 when the building was enlarged and renovated. Pledges made at that time would have easily covered the debt but the shadow of the depression and other obstacles made payment impossible. Budget deficits increased the burden during the height of the depressing.

Full credit for the lifting of the indebtedness was given Friday evening to Rev. Roger F. Williams, pastor of the church. Rev. Mr. Williams came to Alexandria Bay from Chaumont in June, 1937 and the entire funds for clearing the debt have been raised during the 18 months of his pastorate. The final payment was made Dec. 1 and Rev. Mr. Williams showed a sizeable sheaf of receipts to the congregation. The formal mortgage burning will take place Sunday evening at a special service.

The gathering Friday evening was actually a community and vicinity meeting. Rev. Armand Dussault, pastor of St. Cyril’s Catholic church; Rev. Henry W. Bell, rector of St. Lawrence church here and Christ church in Clayton, and Rev. Earl D. Compton, pastor of the Dutch Reformed church in this village were all present. Rev. Charles T. Holcombe, district superintendent of the Black River district of the church, came from Watertown. Rev. Herbert Harrison of Brownville, president of the Black River Ministerial association, was present. Rev. Richard F. Henderson of the Lutheran church in Redwood sent greetings. All of the former living ministers of the church here forwarded congratulations extending from Rev. Frank E. Arthur, who was the Methodist pastor in Alexandria Bay in 1897 and 1898 who is now a man of 80 residing in Remsen, to Rev. William D. Aubrey, now of Lafargeville, who preceded Rev. Mr. Williams.

The gathering Friday evening was a memorable one also for many of the older members of the church. Frank D. Miller, who will be 86 in March, drove from Plessis. Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Avery, Mrs. E. D. Herrick, Mr. and Mrs. Charles U. Putnam, Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Haas, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Garlock, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Swan were all present. They have been strong figures in the Methodist church for a quarter century and more.

Harold B. Johnson, editor of The Watertown Times, was the guest speaker at the evening gathering. Mr. Johnson took as his subject, “Our Heritage,” and outlined briefly the sturdy, courageous background of the North Country people. He spoke of the hardships which the German pioneers from the Palatinate endured in crossing the Atlantic, and fighting their way slowly into the Mohawk valley and thence into Northern New York. He mentioned the rugged folk from the New England states and the thrifty, determined Scotch who came into St. Lawrence county.

Our Heritage.

“What is our heritage today?” Mr. Johnson asked. “It is that of all the struggle of the past reaching through generations. It is emphasized to us particularly by reflections of the surroundings of our own early days.

“This observance tonight recognizing the achievement of debt raising means much,” Mr. Johnson continued to say. “It is important because it reveals a present victory but it also carries with it a triumph in religious effort in this community and a further triumph in moral teaching extending back over 100 years in this town. This triumph is not only a demonstration of the strength of the Christian religion as represented in the activities of the past or the present but it is indicative of that which we may expect in the future and the light that is thrown down through the years and cuts the darkness ahead.”

Rev. Mr. Williams, who is acting as general chairman of the jubilee celebration program, presided at the evening meeting and introduced Mr. Johnson.

Rev. Mr. Williams also asked Rev. Father Dussault, Rev. Mr. Bell, Rev. Mr. Compton, Rev. Mr. Holcombe and Rev. Mr. Harrison to speak briefly. All of them praised the church and its members and pastor for the energy displaced in erasing the indebtedness. All of them pointed to the sacrifices which the congregation had made in raising sufficient funds.

Rev. Mr. Williams read congratulatory letters from all living former pastors of the church and from various persons who have been interested in the development of the church. With his letter of greeting Rev. Frank E. Arthur, who was here 40 years ago, sent a leather bound copy of the new church hymnal. Others who heralded the progress which the church has made included Rev. William A. Sullivan, pastor in 1902, who now lives in Oswego; Rev. Benjamin G. Miller of Lyons who was pastor of the church for five years from 1903 to 1908; Rev. Oliver E. Raymond, now of Brasher Falls, who was pastor for ten years from 1919 to 1928; Rev. Curtin G. Roop of Ellisburg, pastor in 1932 and 1933 and Rev. William D. Aubrey, now of Lafargeville, who was here from 1934 until June, 1937. Mrs. Mary E. Durkin of Frazee, Minn., Rev. Harbert W. Marcum, librarian at Cazenovia seminary, and Mrs. Bess M. Scott sent greetings.

Special music also figured in the evening program. The boys’ sextete of Alexandria Bay High school sang three selections, “Chinese Honeymoon,” “Eight Bells,” and “Way Down to Rio.” The members of the sextet were Gordon Hill, Theodore Barker, Richard Barker, Wilmott Keeler, Raymond Putnam and Thomas Burtch. Miss Lulu Bellinger and Miss Gwendolyn Hunt say a duet, “Trees.” Both the boys’ sextet and Miss Bellinger and Miss Hunt were accompanied by Miss Margaret M. Todd on the piano. Mrs. Fred M. Estes played the organ for congregation singing.

The supper was served under the direction of Mrs. Estes who had charge of the dining room and Mrs. Rachel Van Brocklin who directed the preparations in the kitchen. The dining room was decorated with Christmas greens. The tables were lighted with candles and each guest was given a boutonniere of sweet williams.

To show graphically the progress of the church during the last 60 years Rev. Mr. Williams presented an exhibit of pictures of former ministers and early members of the various church books and manuals. Among the pictures were those of Rev. and Mrs. William M. Holbrook who headed the church at the time of the erection of the present building in the middle 1870’s. Rev. Mr. Holbrook appears as a young but serious faced man. Another interesting picture was that of Mrs. Zoller Overacker, the grandmother of Mrs. W. W. Avery. This photograph was taken in October, 1915 on Mrs. Overacker’s 100th birthday. Mrs. Overacker died five years later. There is also a picture of Mr. Overacker. Another stern faced early church figure was Rev. Peter Bullis, who was pastor of the church in 1870 and 1871. There are also pictures of Isaac S. Bingham, who was a presiding elder of the church in the 1870’s, Rev. John A. Cosgrove, who was minister in 1878 and 1879; Rev. Herbert W. Howard and Rev. A. J. Cottrell, both of whom lived here in the 1880’s, and such sturdy early members as Asabel Hough and James Wood.

Rev. Mr. Williams also procured two copies of “The Doctrine and Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal church.” The earlier copy is dated 1854 and the second was published in 1872. Both describe in detail the various infractions and wrong doings of the church and set forth the penalties and how the accused shall be tried. There are a half dozen copies also of the Black River Conference book.

History, as older members of the congregation pointed out Friday evening, shows that Methodism in Alexandria Bay goes back to the 1820s. At that time circuit riders carrying their clothes and their Bibles in their saddle bags came into the tiny settlement on the river from Plessis and Theresa. Plessis had a church building at which Presbyterian ministers preached as early as 1833 but followers of Methodism met in the schoolhouse where they knelt on the hard floor as the circuit rider prayed and preached. Alexandria Bay’s firect church, the Dutch Reformed church, was erected in 1848. Rev. George W. Bethune of Brooklyn, who spent summers in the river district, was dismayed to find no place to hold services in the community and led a drive for a church building.

The present Methodist church was built in 1874 and dedicated in 1875. The main auditorium is the same oak-paneled room which the members of the congregatioon erected 60 years ago. At various times repairs have been made climaxed by enlargement and renovation in 1928.

Those who attended the supper and evening meeting Friday included:

Harold B. Johnson and Mr. and Mrs. Charles T. Holcome of Watertown; Rev. Henry W. Bell, Clayton; Leita Dickinson, Syracuse; Rev. and Mrs. Herbert Harrison, Brownville; Frank D. Miller, Plessis, and the following residents of this village: Rev. Armond Dussault, Rev. and Mrs. Roger F. Williams, Rev. and Mrs. Earl D. Compton, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bailey, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Swan, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Haas.

Edward Blount, Arlene Blount, Stewart Blount, Mrs. Robert Taylor, Effie Batchelder, F. J. Batchelder, Sara Van Brocklin, Fred Van Brocklin, Effie Keeler, George A. Cook, H. D. Fuller, Mrs. Karl Zimmer, Mrs. Minnie E. Wormer, Margaret M. Todd, Kathleen Leonard, Mrs. L. J. Estes, Ula Wiltse, Milton A. Wiltse, Mary E. Richard, Hannah Purvis, Mildred Kring, Anna F. Miller, Ethel L. Leonard, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Garlock, Mrs. Henry Burtch, Mr. and Mrs. Norbert Smalling, Mrs. Ernest H. Reynolds, Mrs. Reed Hunt, Mrs. Edward Latham, Ross Spencer, Carl Willard, Mr. and Mrs. Berton E. Biggers, H. H. Hartford.

The 64-year-old, wooden-frame, high-steepled church is located at Rock and Church streets. Its parsonage, built in 1883 during the pastorate of Rev. Horace C. Chase, adjoins on Rock street.

The history of Methodism in the town of Alexandria goes back more than 110 years when a Methodist class existed in the town. The first Methodist preacher to appear in this section is believed to be Rev. Nathaniel Salisbury, Leray circuit rider, who preached in the town in 1826 and 1827.

Methodists in this area attended services held in various schoolhouses and the Union Stone church of Plessis, built in 1833 for Methodist, Methodist Protestant, Presbyterian and Baptist denominations.

The first real Methodist place of worship in the town was a chapel at Brown’s Corners, between Plessis and Alexandria Bay, erected by the Methodists in 1839. The chapel was abandoned after the centers of Methodist interest transferred to Plessis and Alexandria By. The Plessis church was dedicated in 1860 during the pastorate of Rev. Allen Castle.

The local church was the outgrowth of an intensive campaign of revival services held in various sections of the town of Alexandria. It was erected in 1874 at a cost of about $4,000 and was dedicated Feb. 3, 1875, by the late Rev. Isaac S. Bingham, D. D., presiding elder of the Watertown district and father of the late Charles D. Bingham, former mayor of Watertown. The late Rev. William M. Holbrook, of Plessis, was the pastor of the church at the time of its dedication.

The Northern New York Conference in 1876 made the church a separate charge. The late Rev. Samuel M. Warn became the first pastor under the new arrangement. Besides serving the local church, the minister preached once in two weeks at the Barnes Settlement and Bailey schoolhouses.

The officials of the church at the time included the following: Friend S. Freeman, Daniel Springer and James Carter, local preachers; Henry Hough, Daniel Northrup, Samuel B. Miller, Oscar Northrup, Francis Cole, Lorenzo Heath, James Wood, William Overacker, Alfred A. Avery, George Haas, Robert Deans and Jesse Davis, stewards, trustees and class leader.

Rev. Mr. Warn, the first pastor of the church to reside in this village, built his own residence on the corner of Holland and Walton streets and lived there.

The membership of the church has grown to 210. The oldest member of the church, a Mrs. Kate Bailey, 88, of this village, widow of Erastus Bailey, having joined the church more than a half century ago.

Note: The next page of this Scrapbook consisted of two group photos. The legends below the photos follow:

#1: All clergymen in Alexandria Bay and other church officials joined with the First Methodist church in noting the opening of the jubilee celebration Friday evening. In the above photo shown, left to right: Rev. Henry W. Bell, pastor of St. Lawrence Episcopal church; Rev. Roger R. Williams, host pastor; Rev. Charles T. Holcombe, Black River district superintendent; Rev. Herbert Harison, Brownville; Rev. Armand Dusseault, pastor of St. Cyril’s Catholic church, and Rev. Earl D. Compton, pastor of the Dtuch Reformed church.

#2: The above photo shows the trustees of the First Methodist church, who directed the efforts to raise funds to pay off the $3,300 indebtedness against the church. Left to right are shown Charles Haas, George A. Cook, David M. Crawford, Rev. Rogert F. Williams, pastor, Charles Garlock and Charles U. Putnam.