Information Sheet

 

 

R         First Presbyterian Church of Ironton, Missouri.

295                  Records, 1856-1986.

                                    Thirty-eight volumes.

 

MICROFILM

 

 

 

These are records of the Presbyterian Church at Ironton in Iron County, Missouri, which was or­ganized as part of the Potosi Presbytery in 1855.  The records include minutes of meetings of the church Session, the Board of Trustees, and the congregation, registers of membership, and rec­ords of the women’s auxiliary societies.

The First Presbyterian Church of Ironton was organized in September 1855.  First called the Arcadia Church, the name was changed in May 1860.  The church grew out of earlier as­sem­blies in the Arcadia Valley by settlers drawn by the Iron Mountain speculation of 1837-1838.  The first congregation consisted of Col. Cyrus Russell, Augustus Pease, Nathan Trum­bull, and their fami­lies, all of whom were former residents of Connecticut.  They began meet­ing in 1841 or 1842, adopting the articles of faith and code of the Congregational Church of Somers, Conn.  The members had benefit of a pastor only occasionally.  In 1853 the church obtained the services of the Rev. David Paxton from Farmington.  Under his guidance the church was reorganized and application was made for membership in the Potosi Presbytery in 1855.  Henry P. Russell and John P. Hayden were elected elders.

The town of Ironton was platted in 1857 by H. N. Tong and David Carson.  They donated lots in 1860 for a church site.  Construction began the same year under the supervision of Henry P. Russell, but completion was delayed until 1868 by the Civil War and its effects.  The original building stood until 1901, when it was razed and replaced by the present structure.  It was re­mod­eled in 1966.

The records of the Ironton Church consist of those pertaining to the church and its gov­ern­ing bodies, and those regarding the activities of the women’s auxiliaries.  The records of the church in­clude minutes of meetings of the Session, the congregation, and the trustees, mem­ber­ship data, and the records of the treasurer.  The earliest record is for a meeting held in 1856, some months after the church was organized.  The early period which led to the forma­tion of the church is de­tailed in “Origin and Progress of the First Presbyterian Church of Ironton, Missouri,” a historical sketch written sometime in the 1870s.  This volume and the earliest of the other rec­ords contain useful in­formation on the early settlers of the Arcadia Valley, particularly Cyrus Russell and his family.

The earliest women’s auxiliary of the church was the Ladies Missionary Society, formed sometime in the 1880s.  The name was changed in 1896 to the Woman’s Missionary Society, and in 1917 to the Missionary-Aid Society.  The change in 1917 marked the merger of the mission group with the Ladies of the Church.  After a hiatus in 1918, the women reorganized as the Gleaners in 1919.  The auxiliary societies sponsored missionary, charitable, and social activities, and worked closely with the trustees in church maintenance and fund-raising.  Re­cords for the auxiliary societies are available for 1886 through 1986.

The Ironton church records reveal concerns common to many small churches, such as the need to attract young members and secure the services of a full-time pastor, and to raise money enough to maintain and improve the church buildings.  The records also illustrate fam­ily and so­cie­tal rela­tionships in an early industrial area of Missouri.

 

 

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