Retracing my Grandmother Footsteps

During our visit in the November 2013, the sky was a vibrant blue,and the multicolored were still on many trees.
It was thrilling as I shared with my own two grandchildren the story of my grandmother visiting in this very church.

It was wonderful to have Peggy Farquhar with us, the Farquhar family history specialist to show us around and share some of the history of the community with us. Soon my grandson's were looking for the old headstones in the cemetery, and asking questions about ancestors and their history.  

Allan and his John Farquhar  his brother are now buried here, along with many other of the Farquhar family.
Both men gave quiet service to the church and community. They and others liked them helped to keep the church and the cemetery well groomed.  Now its left to each  generation to CARE for those who have gone on.

And Its up to us to teaching the upcoming generation to their  appreciate roots and those who sacrificed for                           the coming generations. 

The Little Redstone Church on the Hillside

It was in 1965 that my grandmother Gladys Bell Wolfe Parker took a trip across the Untied State in an attempt to
discover more about her roots. She had written to Agnes Farquhar who invited her to come and visit.
It was then that she discovered for the first time the Old Redstone Church. And the part it would play in her family history.  There she would find pieces to the puzzles in her family tree, graves of several of her ancestors. 

Gladys Parker took this photo of her distant cousins after a Church Service, Agnes Farquhar the wife of John Farquhar far left. Allen Farquhar far right, Sunday School superintendent for many many years.  The trip and these photos  and other photos of her trip, became a priceless treasure for Gladys Parker.

It was on that trip Allen Farquhar was kind enough to give Gladys an extra copy of a old photo of the Old Redstone Church. It was the photograph  with the congregation posing outside. She was thrilled and cherished.  She later wrote  a journal of her visit with family, and her trip to the Old Redstone Church, and shared with her family in years to come.  And that's how I became interested in visiting the Old Redstone Church myself. 

Remolding the Redstone Chruch

In 1902 the Redstone Church was remodeled, and a new roof was added, stain glass windows, and new seats and new carpet were added as well. The entrance was changed from two doors, to one central door. And chairs were purchased for the choir.

Then in 1927,the pot bellied stove was removed and central heating by a coal burning furnace was installed, making those cold Sunday service more comfortable for all the members. And four new Aladdin type tamps were added to improve lighting.

Then in 1928 Lute Brown re-decorated the building by adding a new metal ceiling, and then nice woodwork was added. Volunteers again help with the up keep by painting the inside and exterior of the building. Those helped to maintain the grounds and cemetery.

It was recorded in the Fayette City Journal, in November 16, 1928 Rev. E.C. Linn was the Pastor, Scott Hare, Jr.., Superintendent and Wm.Colman, Assistant. And at that time another improvement on the building was made. This time Bob Lincoln started to wire the church house for electricity, costing a total of $55.00. And the following year the oil lamps in the window bracket and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling were removed, allowing better lighting  for which the members of the congregation were grateful.

A Historical Real Event for the Community

Written in the History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania edited by Franklin Ellis it stated, "The only house of public worship in Washington Towship is the Little Redstone Methodist Episcopal Church, located at the forks of the road just west of Jehu Steven's residence. The neat and substantial brick edifice rears it modest front within a small but well-kept churchyard, where many of Washington's pioneers have slept for many years.

The Baptist built a long church at the point forty years or more ago, and maintained an organization and periodical worship for sometime. The Methodists held occasional meetings in the Baptist meeting-house, as well as neighboring schoolhouse and house of members. 

The frist Methodist meeting were held at the houses of Nathaniel Stephens, Robert Stephens, and Hugh Ford. The brick church was built in 1857, were Reves Wakefield, Mansell, Johnson, Kendall and Stewart.. The present pastor is Reve Josiah Mansell, who preaches at the Little Redstone every Sunday. 

The membership now (May 1881) is sixy-five. The class leader is Albert Gaddis. The trustees are David Stephens, Jehu Luce, John Smith, and John Taggart. The superintendent of the Sunday School is Jehu Luce."

How it all began

By 1787 Methodism had become a part of Western Pennsylvania and Western Virginia. 

Robert Ayres was an itinerant Methodist and Episcopalian minister and educator throughout Western Pennsylvania during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Ayres was the oldest son of a large family and was born on March 17, 1761. Little is known of his early life except that he studied to become a teacher, an assumption made from his ability to read Latin. In 1785, he became an itinerant Methodist preacher in the Chesapeake region. Between 1786 and 1787 he travelled on the Redstone Circuit in Western Pennsylvania and surrounding states.

The Redstone was one of only two pioneer circuits of Methodism in the great central valley of America and the mother circuit of the Pittsburgh Conference of the Methodist Church. The name Redstone comes from "The Redstone Country," an early name given to the western region of the United States for settlements near the small creek rising near Uniontown (Fayette County), Pennsylvania and flowing into the Monongahela at Brownsville (Fayette County). Ayres conducted much of his preaching in the Morgantown, West Virginia area. Between 1787 and 1788, Ayres preached in the area around the upper Potomac and spent his last year as a Methodist minister in the circuit in Winchester, Virginia (1788-1789).

In the early days Robert Ayre  made eight trips around the circuit starting from the Widow Ann Murphy's in Union-town PA. Robert Ayre tried to keep a daily journal, and carefully recording the places where he visited and preached. His journal passages tell us of the locations he preached, like the home of Peter Maston in Washington Township, Fayette County, near Fayette City. Peter's home was nestled in the beautiful lush rowing hills, along with other farms and homesteads.

It was in this area, that it was decided that a church should be built. So finally there were meetings and a location was decided upon. Trustees drew up Articles of Agreement on 14 January 1857, building plans were drawn up. The property was surveyed by Samuel Griffth 30 August 1858 and George Seacrist, a contractor built the small brick building for $1,350.

This was a wonderful and exciting event for the people of the community, now they would have a place of worship, and a beautiful cemetery, where they could bury their departed loved ones.