Information Sheet

 

 

R         First Presbyterian Church of Rolla (Mo.).

668                                    Records, 1864-1997.

Fifteen volumes and two folders.

 

MICROFILM

 

 

 

These are records of the First Presbyterian Church at Rolla, Missouri.  Included are minutes of meetings of the church Session, membership and marriage records, minutes of meetings of the Board of Deacons and the Board of Trustees, and church bulletins.

 

Under the direction of Rev. A. T. Norton, district secretary of Presbyterian Home Missions in St. Louis, the First Presbyterian Church of Rolla was organized on 14-15 May 1864.  Twelve persons made up the congregation, which met in a former army quartermaster’s building also be­ing used as a public schoolhouse.  The first public services were held in the Phelps County Court­house.  The first members were Theophilus D. Griffith, Mrs. E. B. Lamb, Mrs. M. E. Faulkner, Mrs. G. E. Mountforth, Mary P. Guy, Martha F. Guy, Mrs. Amelia S. Perry, William H. Hazzard, Livonia E. Hazzard, Henry A. Robinson, and Daniel R. Parsons.  Other important early members included George W. Wilson, Thomas Q. Emerson and William B. Tallman.

 

The earliest years of the church were difficult.  Rev. Williston Jones, sent from St. Louis to take charge of the church in May 1865, found only three of the original members still in Rolla.  Jones himself died at Rolla in November 1865.  Despite early difficulties in maintaining member­ship and securing permanent pastors, the congregation erected its first building in 1869.  The frame building at the corner of 6th and Olive streets was enlarged and remodeled in 1942.  It served the congregation until 1963, when a modern brick building on east 10th Street was dedi­cated.  The new facility included a large annex used for educational and social purposes.  The church opened Rolla Presbyterian Manor, a retirement home, in 1974.

 

The First Presbyterian Church of Rolla was initially a part of the St. Louis Presbytery.  It is now associated with the United Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., and is a member of the Synod of Mid-America (Kansas City), and John Calvin Presbytery at Springfield.  The Chamberlain, Cha­pin, Dunivin, Farris, Followill, Heimberger, Hirsch, McCaw, Parsons, Seese, Soest, and Van­Wormer families have been prominent members of the church.  More recent church officials and long term pastors included Hugh Berry, John Heagler, Carl L. Sadler, Edward Sowers, Rev. G. Scott Porter, and Rev. Warren H. Rutledge.

 

The records consist of minutes of meetings of the church Session, Board of Deacons, and Board of Trustees.  Minutes of the Session begin with the organizational meeting in May 1864 and continue through December 1994.  There are no Session minutes from 1878 to 1923.  Volumes 1-2 contain membership records, but volume 8, the Church Register, is the most complete record of church membership in the collection.  Other records include minutes of meetings of the Board of Deacons, 1968-1996; minutes of the Board of Trustees, 1987-1997; marriage records, 1948-1967; church bulletins, 1954-1964; and a brief history of the church, 1976.

 

 

 

Volume 1:  Record book, 1864-1878

 

14-15 May 1864    Organizational meeting at “school room.”  [“Ministerial history of church” says this was a former army quartermaster dept. building on Block 56, County Addition to Rolla.  See 25 Oct 1868 for reference to services at “Mr. Allen’s school house”]  A. T. Norton, district secretary of Presbyterian Home Missions, was elected moderator. Twelve persons made up the first congregation.  Theophilus D. Griffith was ordained the first elder of the congregation.

 

15 May 1864          Public services then held at the Phelps County Courthouse.  Name: “First Presbyterian Church of Rolla, Missouri”  Ask to be received into the St. Louis Presbytery.

 

6 May 1865            Williston Jones arrived to take charge of church by direction of Rev A. T. Norton.  Found that elder and all but three of original congregation had moved away.

 

20 Nov 1865          Rev. Williston Jones, pastor, died at his home.

 

Pulpit filled temp by Rev. S. B. Shaw of Cuba; and by Rev. Philander Read, sent by StL Presbytery, until Feb 1867.  In July 1867, Rev. W. L. S. Clark came from Little Piney to preach three times each month. 

 

Nov 1867   George W. Wilson elected elder.  Thomas Q. Emerson, clerk of session.  H. W. Werth and H. Beal were elected as deacons; Thomas Q. Emerson elected elder.

 

[following p. 26]   20 July 1873  “Ministerial History of  church”   Rev. J. Addison Whitaker begins as pastor.

 

[pp. 88-90]  22 July 1876    Trouble between Pastor Whitaker and Elder Thomas Emerson.

 

[pp. 113-164]   More trouble between pastor and Emerson, and trial by Session, 16 July—3 August 1877  

 Emerson suspended from church.

 

[pp. 169-170 missing]

 

[p.171]   19 Jan 1878   J. Addison Whitaker resigns as pastor, but remained in position through 14 Apr 1878.

 

14 April 1878—end of minutes.  Records inspected and approved by Presbytery in St. Louis, 17 April.

 

[pp. 174-191  blank]

 

Church register  [separately paginated—only the following pages have been filmed:]

 

[p. 1].           Register of Elders

                [p. 8]           Register of Deacons

                [pp.18-71]   Register of Communicants

                [pp.77-79]   Register of Baptisms 

                [p. 125]         Register of deaths

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