Information Sheet

 

 

R         First Presbyterian Church of Fredericktown (Mo.).

322                  Records, 1880‑1985.

                                    Seven volumes.

 

MICROFILM

 

 

 

These are minutes of meetings of the Session and the congregation, church registers, and the centennial history of the First Presbyterian Church of Fredericktown in Madison County, Missouri.  Since 1964 Fredericktown has shared pastors with churches at Cornwall and Ironton.

 

The records of the church begin on 18 February 1880, with a peti­tion to the St. Louis Pres­by­tery, asking that a church be organized at Fredericktown.  The first minutes of the Ses­sion were entered on 22 February 1880.  Lapses in the records from 1882 to 1895 and from 1898 to 1902 in­dicate that the existence of the church was sporadic in the early years.  The minutes of meet­ings from 1904 to 1985 are complete.

 

Membership records of the church are in good order.  Thirteen individuals signed the or­gan­izational petition in 1880.  Membership reached a peak in the 1960s, when the mines around Fred­ericktown were in full production, but has declined with the demise of mining in Madison County.  As have many other small churches in rural areas, the Fredericktown con­gregation has struggled to maintain its membership and its property, and to keep its pastors.  Toward those ends, the church was a member in the Iron Mountain Larger Parish, an associa­tion of ten churches in the area, 1946‑1964.  Since 1964, the Fredericktown congregation has shared pastors with Presbyterian churches at Cornwall and Ironton.

 

Shelf List for this collection
Index cards for this collection
Questions? Use our Researcher Registration Form
Return to WHMC-Rolla's home page.